Kinds of Sentience
by Tashash
Summary: PostMovieverse Jazz’s body has disappeared and now the All Spark shard has been stolen. The Auotobots and Sam know there is a connection but can’t find it. Then Will Lennox receives some vital, and disturbing, information from an unknown source.
1. 1 Prologue Battle Aftermarth

Disclaimer: I own didly-squat; Hasbro and Takara own all and I make no money from doing this.

A/N: My first fic _ever_, I finally stopped being lazy. If you are going to flame all I ask is that you have a valid reason. I will try and fix any plot holes, spelling mistakes, cannon errors etcetera that I find or that are pointed out to me. Here we go!

Kinds of Sentience

Prologue Battle After-effects

Ratchet moved through the devastation that had been the battleground. The city was a mess, but that was only to be expected after the fight that had taken place there not even a few minutes before. He could hardly believe it, Megatron was dead, killed by the small human male Samuel James Witwicky with the overwhelming power of the All Spark and what Decepticons were still alive had fled to lick their wounds. The Autobots had actually accomplished what they had set out to do those many centuries ago. But it had come with a price that Ratchet would have given anything not to pay.

"_You wanna piece of me! You want a Piece?"_

"_No, I want two!"_

Those words had carried across the city to his audio receptors and for that second he had prayed to Primus that Jazz would be ok, that he would be able to hang on until Ratchet could get to him. But he had prayed in vain and now he was taking reluctant steps through the ruined city, toward the two rent pieces of the body of his fallen comrade.

"Jazz, why did you do it? Why would you try to take on Megatron by yourself?"

Jazz would never answer him, but he didn't need to; it was what he would do, buying time for Prime and the Air force to get there, to get Sam and the All Spark out so that Prime wouldn't have go through with his suicidal plan to unite his Spark with the All Spark. So like him, to take on any danger because he was the best 'bot for the job and he had always pulled it off, until now.

"Come on; let's get you to Prime and the others. It isn't dignified for you to just stay lying where you fell"

With those words Ratchet gently scooped up the remains of his friend and went to find the others, worrying as he trudged through the devastation.

'_How are they all going to take this? Prime has lost his first lieutenant, someone he could always count on and trust to get the job done right. I don't think there's anyone that Prime could trust as much – it will be a sore blow for him. Ironhide won't let it show, but he will miss Jazz as much as any of us. 'Bee, poor Bumblebee, they were such good friends, if there was anyone he looked up to besides Prime it was Jazz.'_

"Ratchet?"

It was Ironhide making his waytoward the medic, staring with dim, pain filled optics at the burden he carried.

"Is he….Will he…?"

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. His Spark is extinguished; he's not there anymore Ironhide"

"Slag it!" The weapons specialist snarled, turning to slam his fist into an already crumbling building.

Ratchet sighed, wishing he could do the same, but he was too tired to even unleash his anger at Jazz's death.

"Come on Ironhide, we need to find Prime, I don't think he knows"

They set off again, walking in silence for a few moments until they came to the scene of Megatron's demise where Bumblebee, Sam, Mikaela, Prime and Will Lennox with his team had gathered. Bumblebee had lost his legs helping Ironhide protect the humans from Starscream's missile but had still come back to the fight with Mikaela, attached to the back of a tow truck and shooting down Devastator while Mikaela drove the truck in reverse! It would take Ratchet a lot of work to get him functional again, but he didn't grudge the little yellow 'bot any of it. He would have preferred to have been fixing two serious injuries, but there was nothing anyone but Primus could do for Jazz now. Ratchet walked up to Optimus.

"Prime, we couldn't save him"

He handed the pieces that had once been the lieutenant to Optimus

"Ohhh, Jazz"

The Autobot leader took the body carefully from the medic, and then turned to face the humans who had helped them accomplish their mission.

"We lost a great comrade, but gained new ones. Thank you, all of you; you honour us with your bravery"

"Permission to speak, sir"

Ratchet's head whipped around at an appreciable fraction of light speed to look at Bumblebee in surprise

'_He's speaking! But that can't be possible, I haven't worked on him since the night we came to Earth and I seriously doubt that those Sector Seven people would have repaired his vocal processor even if they could. But, ah, he held the All Spark – that's the answer'_

Prime smiled at the Autobot scout and spy, the expression on his face indicating just how glad he was to hear Bumblebee speaking again.

"Permission granted, old friend"

"I wish to stay with the boy"

Ratchet smiled to himself, Bumblebee had bonded well with his charge, probably because they were so alike; so seeming fragile but possessed of great strength, courage and determination. Even he did not want to think about leaving the humans, they were so fascinating a species; so diverse and different.

"If that is his choice"

Optimus looked toward Sam, already knowing what his answer would be.

"Yes"

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Captain William Lennox was dead tired, but he knew it had to come sooner or later. The rush of fear and rage induced adrenalin had long since faded from his system, the strength and endurance it had given him during the fight was now non-existent and he felt like a piece of half-masticated chewing gum, or maybe one of Figs mother's alligator kebabs. He looked over at the sight of a giant yellow-green robot tending to the crushed stumps of a smaller, brighter yellow robot.

'_They're Autobots, not robots or machines, but actual living people who just happen to be made of metal'_

He had to remember that, he owed it to them. They had not only saved the world but his life, twice; when the large grey one with the awesome firepower had recognised that F-22 as being one of the enemies, the Decepticons, and protected them from the missile it had launched. Ironhide - that was his name and the yellow-green one was their medic, Ratchet, the largest one with the red flame detail was their commanding officer, Optimus Prime, and the little yellow one, what had the girl called him?

"_No! I'm not going 'til I get Bumblebee out of here"_

Ah, that was it - Bumblebee. Will smiled to himself, wondering if they knew what a Bumblebee was here on Earth. Bumblebee had saved him as well, coming back to the battle even though he had lost his legs and shooting down that tank-thing that he and his men just couldn't seem to kill. Without his help they would have been seriously fucked. He looked over to where Optimus Prime stood, holding one of his men, Jazz, who had taken on that NBE-1 or Megatron or whatever you wanted to call him and gotten ripped in half, Will could only hope that even that sort of damage was enough to kill even an Autobot quickly, he knew that it was a horrible way to die slowly. And that reminded him of something he needed to discuss with Optimus and he began to walk over to the Autobot CO.

"A word, if I may sir?"

Blazing blue eyes, or whatever they were, looked down at him and Will had to resist the urge to cringe, he knew that they were on his side but, damn, they were huge!

"Of course, Captain. What is it you wish to speak to me about?"

The Autobot leader placed the parts of his soldier to one side softly and hunkered down so that would not be towering over Will anymore and Will used that time to put his thoughts in order.

"Well, I know that Bumblebee is going to stay with Sam so I was wondering if that meant all of you would be remaining on Earth?"

"It does, with the All Spark destroyed we cannot give life back to our planet, there is no longer any reason to go back to Cybertron"

'_So that was what was so important about that cube thing, not just the fact that it would turn all of Earths machines into an army'_

"I'm sure that the government will be more than happy to let you stay here, and if Bumblebee is going to live with Sam it would probably make sense for you to have your base near Tranquillity, or as near as you can be whilst still having some privacy. I don't think the US government is going to make your existence here public, but you might have noticed how suicidally curious humans are"

Prime smiled at that, and Will knew that the Autobots were encountering a steep learning curve when it came to human nature.

"We do wish to stay here and it would be best if we could stay together. Starscream and Barricade are not accounted for, and we do not know what other Decepticons are roaming the stars. I would counsel you not to let your guard down too much just yet"

Will began to swear viscously, he did not want to have to go through another fight like that.

"There are more of these guys out there? And they could find their way here?"

"In answer to your first question, yes, for the second I do not know, maybe they could but wether they would come to Earth is another matter. However not only Decepticons roam the galaxy, I believe there are other Autobots out there"

"Well, they would be welcome here. You guys saved us – the least we could do is offer you a place to stay"

"Thank you"

"Speaking of which, I know this is a little delicate, but what will you do with Jazz's body"

"Until we find a base I would like to leave Jazz in the care of your government, I do not wish anything to happen to him until we can put him to rest.

"I understand and I'll pass that on to the Secretary of Defence"

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Agent Davies of Sector Seven waited for the man carrying a largish, black case toward him from the battle ground that Mission city had been.

"This had better be good, we lost NBE-1 and now the government is on their side. If we can't salvage anything then we might as well kiss the whole project goodbye"

Agent Thomson smiled and held up the case he carried

"I think you will be _very_ pleased with what I managed to recover"

Davies remained sceptical; with all the shit Sector Seven had experienced recently his sense of optimism, never very strong, was no longer in working order

"So what is it?"

Thomson opened the case, showing a clear, crystalline box with something like a living sapphire suspended in it.

'_A Spark Case, complete with Spark_'

This was even better than he had dared hope for. A living, incapacitated specimen! He grinned at Agent Thomson

"That is impressive, very good work Agent. Now let's get out of here, I have a feeling that those NBE's would not be very happy to let us keep this little prize.


	2. 2 Grave Robbery

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Headesk, headesk, headesk I forgot to thank my Beta! Bad writer! So I will give thanks now to VikingValkerye267 for all the help. Also here are some timeframes and terms I will be using, I hope they're right. Approximate conversions by Larry DiTillio.

1 Breem 8.3 Earth minutes.  
1 Vorn 83 Earth years.  
1 Orn 1 Cybertronian lunar day Unknown Earth time.

Cycle minute  
Megacycle hour  
Klik second  
Nano-klik 10th of a second

Kinds of Sentience

Chapter One Grave Robbery

Bumblebee raced through the corridors of the Autobots new base on Earth, an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Tranquillity that they had spent several weeks renovating to make it both liveable and practical. One of the new additions had been a beyond-state-of-the-art communications station, which he had been on shift to man when he had received an unexpected call from a _very_ harried looking Secretary of Defence who had an urgent need to talk to Optimus Prime, right this nanosecond. 'Bee knocked on the door of Prime's office and upon receiving an invitation to enter burst through the door, intakes whirring with the speed in which he had come.

"Optimus! The SecDef wishes to speak to you urgently"

"Alright Bumblebee, I think that I will take the call from here"

Optimus turned toward the communications console and activated it. The agitated visage of the US Secretary of Defence appeared on the screen, and Optimus became worried. He knew Secretary Keller as an unflappable man and the distress he was showing did not bode well for what Optimus was about to hear.

"I'm afraid that I have some…disturbing news for you Prime."

'_He knows that I know it isn't good news, why is he stalling? Can it be that bad?'_

Optimus tried to convey a sense of calm onto his features, hoping this would reassure the man, Keller had never seemed afraid of the Autobots but he was clearly expecting an angry outburst.

"Go ahead Secretary"

The man was actually sweating! What could possibly have happened?

"I'm afraid we have failed you and your soldiers in our duty of care. This morning at oh-one-hundred hours one of our secure facilities was attacked by what we believe to be a group of hired thieves. They only wanted two things and they got them. What was left of the All Spark and the semi-repaired body of your lieutenant Jazz were stolen from the facility. We have not been able to recover them"

Optimus' CPU froze.

'_This cannot be happening! How could they lose the All Spark shard and Jazz?'_

Optimus finally managed to get his vocal processor working again.

"Do you know who has done this? Do you have any idea where they may be keeping them? How could this have happened Secretary? We trusted your government to keep those objects safe until our base was secure enough to house them!"

"We have every reason to believe, given the objects that were stolen, that some remnants of Sector Seven have not taken the dissolution well. We believe that they were the ones who hired the thieves. They have the resources to infiltrate the facilities security systems and they have the motive, they are our prime suspects. Tom Banachek, Simmons and the other former agents on our side are trying to locate where they may have set up a base but are so far having no luck. We have failed and we should have been expecting this, I can only say how deeply I regret what has happened, from now on you have full jurisdiction on this, second only to the President himself, and nothing in this investigation will go ahead without your say-so Prime."

Optimus recognised the sincerity in the Secretary's apology, right now righteous anger would solve nothing. As much as the idea of former Sector Seven agents having possession of the All Spark shard and Jazz's body froze his fuel lines he knew he needed to put the emotion aside, to think clearly and logically. That was for the best.

"I thank you for your concern Secretary Keller, I wish for you to continue your investigation and update me on any new data you acquire. I must inform the other Autobots of the situation; I believe that Bumblebee may be able to assist you in the search"

"I will get back to the search Prime. If your soldiers wish to help their support would be most appreciated. We are as anxious as you to find these remnants and retrieve what they stole, since they are now freelancing and have no government affiliation anymore the results of their possession of the All Spark shard and Jazz's body could be disastrous. I will let you address your troops now, we will keep you posted."

The screen faded to black and Optimus stayed sitting at his desk for a moment.

'_How am I going to tell the others about this? Ironhide will glitch for sure. I don't know what Ratchet will do. Sam and Mikaela are going to be furious'_

The thought soothed Optimus' turmoil somewhat, while there were humans out there who wished the Autobots harm and didn't even consider that they were living, sentient beings, there were those who knew them for what they were, accepted them and even their cause. Both the human children and other humans had risked their lives, and he knew that Sam and Mikaela were protective of their 'visitors from heaven'. Especially of Bumblebee, and that brought to and another unpleasant thought

'_Bumblebee will not take this well, he and Jazz were good friends and if anyone has any idea of what those humans intend to do with him it's 'Bee. And what if they don't stop at Jazz? They will go for the one they see as weakest first.'_

That Optimus would never allow to happen again, if there was anyway he could stop it outside of harming humans he would not let them take his soldiers. He owed it to protect them, even if they were all perfectly able to protect themselves. He was their commander and he accepted all responsibility for them, for their wellbeing.

With a heavy Spark he moved to the communications console, he needed to call an emergency meeting so they would all know what had happened and what they now faced.

"Emergency meeting called, all personnel in the base respond. Meet in the lounge section in ten cycles. End message"

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Sam wandered into the designated lounge for the Autobots new base with 'Bee. Ratchet and Mikaela were already there, but Ironhide and Optimus had yet to arrive for the emergency meeting that had been called.

"What do you think this could be about 'Bee?"

If there was anyone to ask for information, it was his guardian, his designation as both scout and spy meant he was adept at taking in information and fitting the puzzle pieces together. 'Bee looked down at him and Sam could see worry in his friends bright blue optics.

'_So Bee knows something, that's a start'_

"While I was manning the communications station today I received a call from SecDef Keller, he requested to speak to Prime immediately and he seemed extraordinarily distressed about something, I can only assume that it was bad news for the Autobots."

"Not good, not good at all 'Bee"

"I agree"

Bumblebee settled and the 'Bot-sized 'couch' beside Ratchet and lowered his hand down to Sam so he could place him on his shoulder. Mikaela occupied the same spot on Ratchet, both humans preferred the position as it meant they didn't have to crane their necks to look at the Autobots and the Autobots didn't have to kneel down to their level, making conversation much easier. Ironhide entered the room a few moments later. Sam and Mikaela waved and Ratchet and 'Bee nodded to him, being unable to wave unless they wanted to dislodge the children perched on their shoulders, something that they had found out one day which had resulted in minor hysterics from Mikaela and utter panic from Ironhide, whose shoulder she had fallen from. Sam had joked that 'Bee's 'human catching skills' were getting far too much use, which had calmed Mikaela down, if only because she became angry with Sam for the remark. Ironhide sat next to Ratchet, filling up the couch.

Optimus was not far behind Ironhide and moved to the couch opposite the one the others were seated on, Sam watched him apprehensively, recognising the look of worry on the Autobot leaders faceplates. They sat in silence for a few moments until Sam could no longer stand the tension that had begun to fill the room.

"So what's this all about Optimus? Is something wrong?"

The two humans and three mechs waited for Optimus to reply.

"I was contacted by Secretary Keller today; he wished to give me some…information regarding the facility where Jazz's body and the All Spark shard were being kept"

"Wait, Optimus, what do you mean _were_?"

The leader let out of rush of air from his intakes at Ironhide's question, something that Sam had interpreted as being a Cybetronian sigh.

"Secretary Keller believes, and I have every reason to agree, that remnants of Sector Seven hired thieves with plans to infiltrate the facility and steal Jazz's body and the All Spark shard, for what reason I am not sure, but I would guess that they still wish to study Cybertronians. The US government were not able to prevent the theft, nor have they been able to locate where the remnants have taken them. Banachek and Simmons are trying to help, but it seems that no progress has been made."

Stunned silence filled the room. Then there came an explosion of sound from Sam.

"What? You cannot be serious! After you guys saved the planet, after what those Sector Seven goons did to 'Bee? How could this happen? Did they even _try_ to look after Jazz and the All Spark shard? Why…."

Sam was cut off by 'Bee pressing a finger to his humans face in an attempt to stop him yelling and to get him to calm him down. Sam gave his guardian a hurt look, but shut up.

"Sam, there is nothing that we can do, nothing that anyone can do except search for where they may have taken Jazz and the All Spark."

Sam looked at Optimus in shock.

"How can you be so calm about this?"

Blue optics flashed and Sam realised he had inadvertently insulted the Autobot CO.

'_Bad move Witwicky, do not piss off the giant alien slash robot slash car. An apology would be a real good idea right now.' _

"I'msorry Optimus. It's just….."

Sam shrugged helplessly, unable to vocalise the slew of emotions he was feeling in the aftershock of Primes news.

"It's all right Sam, you were just upset. Right now we all need to put that to the side and concentrate on finding Jazz and the All Spark shard and restoring them to their rightful place. Bumblebee, I wish you to start searching the internet for any information that might help us, contact Maggie and Glen to help, although Secretary Keller may have already done so."

'Bee nodded.

"What about us Optimus, is there anything we can do?"

Ratchet finally spoke, and Sam knew that he, Ironhide and Mikaela felt the same way he did; a burning need to do _something_, anything right now, anything except think about what might happen, what might be coming.

"Ironhide, I wish you to go through the Base's security systems, check them over, upgrade them and then check them again. We do not know if these people will stop at taking Jazz's body, them may wish to find themselves a live specimen."

"Not if I have anything to do with it!"

"Not if I have anything to do with it!"

Sam and Mikaela spoke in unison and that relieved the tension somewhat, the Autobots laughed.

"I wish you both to contact your families, for now I wish you to stay at the base where we can keep an eye on you, these people are ruthless and I wish no harm to come to you because of your involvement with us, Ratchet I wish for you to act as temporary guardian for Mikaela."

"Understood Prime"

"I will contact Captain Lennox and see if he can in any way help with the situation.

That is all for now, meeting adjourned."


	3. 3 Tangible Music

Disclaimer: Ooh, I own something! I own the OC, yippity freakin' do-dah…It's not that woot worthy. I own nothing else.

A/N: Yes, there is an OC dodges missiles but it serves the plot, kay? It's a valuable plot filling device and if you spot Mary-Sueness feel free to slap me and tell me to fix it, because I really don't want that in my fic.

Chapter 2 Tangible Music

Caitlyn had driven to her apartment completely devoid of any conscious thought related to the task at hand; her mind had seemingly shut down trying to cope with the information she had gained in the last two hours at 'work'.

'_Why did I come here? I swore never to come to America; I protested that I had no wish to know what being shot felt like, that they were all crazy over here and I didn't particularly want to be hailed with "G'day mate!" every time I opened my mouth to speak. But somehow I ended up here and then I heard about this great opportunity – a comparative anatomy study, something I could really get into, something __**interesting**__. And I got in and I didn't mind all the security, after all there was that terrorist attack here a few months ago. And I did well, this sort of thing was, is, a passion of mine and now…'_

Her stomach lurched, bringing her back to herself as she stood in the tiny living space slash kitchen. She had no idea how she had gotten here, she felt as if she a woken up whilst sleepwalking, her keys still in her hand and bag on her shoulder. She slid the bag off onto the small table near the door, hung the keys up on the keyboard she had made in Woodwork at school in year eight and walked over to the couch, feeling like her sense of balance had temporarily deserted her, and sat with her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. But that position did nothing to soothe her, the couch was new and unworn and right now she needed the comfort of something used, acquainted with humans. She slid to the floor, lying on her back on the old, grey carpet with her hands resting on her abdomen, a position reminiscent of her childhood, of safety.

'_But I'm not safe, oh God, Zeus, Danaan, whoever it is calling the shots what have I gotten into? What have I __**done**__?'_

That door, that led to the secure section of the facility. Why did it occupy such a prominent space in her personal horror, because now she had stepped through it it had closed and locked and she couldn't get out?

_It had been her and fourteen other fellow scientists called to the meeting. Filing in, being greeted and introduced to a man called Davies. His speech about the quality of their work and dedication and also, said with a harsh, barking laugh with nothing of joy in it, of their commitment to privacy. This had confused Caitlyn; she had no one to tell about her work, how could that be constituted as 'commitment to privacy'? Davies had continued his speech, talking about the great benefits to mankind that this project would have and that had caught her attention, 'project' and not 'study' and some small, nervous part of her did not like that change and had begun to worry. And then Davies had smiled at them all and said that for 'reasons of security' they had not all been told the full story of what they were doing here, what they were studying, but because of their 'skills and qualities' the fifteen in the room had been cleared to full access of the project. He had asked them to follow him. So they had, trooping like a litter of kittens down the hall, but silent, so quiet, she knew only one of the other scientists in the group and that only by sight and it seemed that they were all strangers to each other. And it had never occurred to her how many people there were here, just what had required so many people that no fifteen people actually knew each others names?_

And that was when the nerves had really started up, and they had come to that door, huge, thick steel with a serious security device, like they expected something to try and break in…Or out.

_Davies had keyed in a complex code, his fingers moving almost to fast to see and the doors had opened and revealed a sci-fi fanatics dream. A monstrous machine laid out on a concrete slab, more than three meters long as it lay. But while the others were captivated by the sight her gaze turned to something else, a clear box of seemingly fragile material and suspended in it…_

That sight had triggered a memory, one from so long ago she had near forgotten it. A book she had read called "What If?" and one question that had stayed in her mind because the picture accompanying it had been _so_ beautiful. "What if music could be held?" The picture had been of a pair of hands cupping something, like the heart of a blue dwarf star, a shining sphere with glittering rays. And that was what had been in the box.

_And she had turned her gaze away, somehow knowing that what she was looking at was private, intimate and belonged to the machine on the slab. Davies had let them gawk for a while and then had explained to them what they were truly doing._

Each new bit of information, each explanation had torn through her and her heart felt like it was ripping apart.

_The machine was not truly a machine, but a sentient alien being with the designation Jazz, although they preferred to refer to it as NBE – 2. That had rankled, why was he not allowed the dignity of his name, let alone a gender? 'It' was a term for nothings, rocks, water, inanimate objects, even insects had names!_

And then Davies had revealed the real horror.

_Jazz was part of a faction called 'Autobots' who were fighting against the faction known as 'Decepticons'. The Mission city terrorist attack had been nothing of the sort, but a fight between Autobots and humans against the Decepticons for an object of unimaginable power called the Cube or All Spark. Jazz had given his life in the battle, a battle which had saved Earth and all its peoples but resulted in the destruction of most of the All Spark and now all that remained was a small shard. Jazz was believed dead by his comrades, but the organisers of the project had made an 'amazing' discovery. The Spark, which gave both Autobots and Decepticons alike their life, which the All Spark was the creator, had been recovered. That shining blue light was to all intents and purposes Jazz's __**soul**_

And then Davies had revealed even more of the truly disgusting nature of the project and why its controllers were so obsessed with secrecy and security. They had stolen the All Spark shard and Jazz's half-repaired body, from their own government no less. And the Autobots had no idea that their friend was alive and trapped there, his soul apart from his body.

On the floor of her apartment Caitlyn shuddered, her hands clenching around her stomach as a wave of nausea flooded her senses. What must it be like? Could he hear? Could he feel? Did he know what was going on? It didn't matter, this shouldn't be allowed to happen _anyway_, and Davies and his people could not be allowed to continue with what they were doing. Sure, he had said what they were discovering from the body would be of huge beneficence to humankind but Caitlyn knew that was utter bull; no _ethical_ company would touch the technology with a barge pole even if they didn't know where it came from and the only benefits would be that companies who lined their pockets on the suffering of humankind could add another sentient species to their list of expendable test subjects.

'_But what the hell can I do? Drag him out of there myself? Nope, physically impossible and I can't let them know that I want to help Jazz, that their 'project' disgusts me and that I am going to bring them down.'_

She knew that in her very soul that she would accomplish this no matter the difficulties that lay ahead. The thought of another sentient species being out there in the stars filled her with wonder, made the universe seem that much brighter and Davies and his cronies had sullied it. It hurt so much more than any disappointment or let down in her life. Another. Sentient. Species dammit! Another peoples with which to share the gift of thought with, interact with like nothing else they had ever encountered and they had betrayed them!

'_What will they think of us? I can only imagine…I hope that they are not like us when it comes to the concept of forgiveness or they might just blow this rock to pieces like the Death Star obliterating Alderaan.'_

But where could she look for help? Start with someone to whom the idea of alien robots and conspiracies wouldn't be pure fantasy, who knew of the existence ofthe Autobots? The American government high-ups, but if she even somehow managed to contact them she would be found out.

'_So the government is out completely, who else? There were soldiers at Mission city helping the Autobots, as well as two civilians.'_

She didn't know who the civilians were, their names were considered of no consequence and were not in the sheaf of 'briefing notes' she had received today. But the soldiers…She sat up and walked over to the table by the door and pulled the notes out of her bag, looking for the small section labelled 'NBE – 2. Human Connections'. Ah, there it was; the list of men from the Special Operations team who had been at Mission city. She scanned the names, only some had contact details.

'_Captain William Lennox, not the highest ranking and that's good because he won't be so hard to get to. Not that I have any intention of approaching him directly; that would be suicide.'_

But how to get what she knew out? E-mail, phone or mobile calls and direct meetings were all out of the question. None of them even bore thinking about, she had to tread carefully because no matter how strong her commitment was she was only human, and humans feared death.

'_Especially painful death by psychotic, sadistic bastards, I really don't want to give Davies any reason to look twice at me, he creeps me out something shocking.'_

What other contact option did she have? What was there that wouldn't draw attention but would still get Captain Lennox's attention? And it hit her like a cricket bat.

'_Who the hell monitors the mail system anymore? Unless they think you're smuggling drugs, planting a bomb or some other such activity, no one. A letter is so small, normal and inconsequential and no one these days is __**stupid**__ enough to send dangerous information by mail, well, except me it seems.'_

Some of the nausea in her stomach lifted, she had a solution, and the ball could be set rolling. She copied Captain Lennox's home address from the folder and grabbed some blank, lined paper – Her ability to write in a straight line on unlined paper was nonexistent. She then stared at the paper for what seemed like an age. What the bloody hell should she write?

_Ah well, start with the basics. Dear Captain Lennox…Should I use 'dear'? Well who gives a damn!? There's more here at stake than_ _the proper way to address a letter Caitlyn!'_


	4. 4 Handwritten Mail

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC, even Rebecca is based off someone else's dog so I don't own her either.

A/N: Sorry 'bout the legnth of time this took, Christamas and all that. Thanks to Tomorrow4eva for pointing out the spelling error from the last chapter. Right, lets go.

Chapter 3 Handwritten Mail

Will Lennox walked out into the cool morning of his ranch-style home, following the beaten dirt path from the front porch to the mail box. What was left of the night's dew clung to the spiky, hardy plants that Sarah had planted for decoration along the path.

'_I'm surprised I even noticed something so…sappy, a year ago, and hell, six months ago I wouldn't even have noticed'_

But near death encounters tended to change a man and so did the birth of his first child, and both had happened to him lately. Will knew he was not the person he used to be but he wasn't of the opinion that it was a bad change. Now he never left his wife and daughter without a kiss and a goodbye, even if it was just to go to the shops to get milk. It wasn't that he was afraid of life; Will was too strong and brave a soul to be cowed so easily, he just appreciated it with a vigour he had not had before. Before he knew that aliens existed, that machines could feel… and die. He still felt sorrow over Jazz's death, even if he had not even known the Autobot, and had shared in the other's rage when Secretary Keller had informed them of the theft. When Optimus had contacted him and imparted the information Will had been livid.

"_How the hell could they have allowed this to happen? Was there __**any**__ security there?"_

The Autobot leader had sighed, telling him that the government had done all it could and had already sent their apologies, that everyone was working hard trying to figure out the who and the why and he had asked him if there was anything Will thought he could do to help.

"_You know I want to, but I'm just a soldier Optimus. My talents don't extend to this sort of thing…I wish they did."_

Optimus had understood, Will knew that Optimus compared him to the weapons specialist Ironhide - shoot first, shoot some more, shoot later and _then_ ask a question or two.

"_But when we find Jazz's body and the All Spark Shard you can bet that I'll be there, I'll makes those fuckers wish they had never been born. You may be bound by the promise of not hurting humans, but I'm sure as hell not!"_

Optimus had thanked Will and told him that he had personally requested the Captains help in the retrieval mission, whenever that came to pass, and had ended the communication.

Will came out of his reminiscence on the garden path when a cold, wet nose nuzzled his palm, jumping and lightly cursing.

"Rebecca! Girl you scared the hell out of me…Did you sneak out again?"

His comments were addressed to half-grown German Shepherd, all long black and tan fur, legs and big brown eyes. He had assured Sarah that if the dog were raised with baby Annabelle that no harm would come of it and he had been right, even as a puppy Rebecca seemed to have a strong maternal instinct – She even slept outside Annabelle's room, guarding her at night. Even Ironhide, who had promised to terminate the animal if she even so much as growled at Annabelle, had come round to Rebecca and commented that they had the common goal of protecting the Lennox family. Will knew that Ironhide was relived to have someone, even a dog, around to protect them when he couldn't be there. Ironhide took the debt of the Mission city battle very seriously, and he and Will got along just fine, being 'smelted of the same ore' as Ratchet put it.

'_Now exactly why was I here? Oh yeah, I was getting the mail.'_

Will walked the last few steps to the mailbox and pulled out what had been put, or in some cases stuffed, into the slot. He walked idly back up the path, checking the contents while Rebecca romped beside him, sniffing rocks and running away from the waving leaves of the spiky-edged plants.

'_Bill, catalogue, Pizza flyer, catalogue, junk mail, junk mail – What the? Handwritten mail, who on Earth sends handwritten mail?'_

The only person he could think of was Sarah's mother, but Will knew her handwriting and this was different, he looked the letter over.

'_There's no return address, the stamps normal, doesn't feel heavy, can't hear anything inside except paper'_

He sat at the kitchen table, carefully using his pocket knife to slit open the letter, no white powder, nothing dangerous looking, just a piece of lined paper. He unfolded it and began to read.

"SHIT! FUCKING HELL! GODDAMMIT!"

Will stared at the piece of paper he had just read and only vaguely heard Sarah run into the kitchen, startled by her husband's uncharacteristic outburst.

'_It has to be a hoax, or a trap or something. But if it isn't…'_

"Will, Will! Honey, are you all right? What's wrong? What was that all about?"

Will sighed, and turned to comfort his wife, what she knew about the Autobots was sketchy and she preferred it that way and so did he; Will didn't want his wife to involved in this, it was still dangerous. He settled for telling her that he had just gotten some unexpected news, no he wasn't being posted overseas again and that he just needed to make a few phone calls.

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The Autobot base was completely silent. No noise from the medical bay, or the training room, from the recreational room. Not a sound except the wind running through the corridors and rooms. Prime had asked the other Autobots, Sam and Mikaela if they could vacate the premises for an hour or so while he discussed some things with the Secretary of Defence.

Simmons, former government agent for the secret group called Sector Seven shifted nervously in his seat. He still wasn't quite comfortable being in a room with an alien err Autobot. Training and practice while he was with Sector Seven had made him slightly xenophobic; after all they had always expected that any aliens they made contact with would be hostile.

'_The best defence is a good offence we always thought; never did we really consider that a sentient species might have different social sub-groups with differing opinions.'_

And that had been their mistake and his as well. Not that he would ever speak the words aloud, but Optimus Prime had been right. Taking the children had been a bad idea, not to mention kidnapping and imprisoning one of the Autobots. He really hated to think what might have happened had Bumblebee refused to help his former captors, or if they had killed him.

'_Well, I probably would have wished that Lennox had gotten to 'three' and shot me'_

But right now idle reminiscences were not going to solve the rather urgent mystery set before them. Lennox had just finished his brief recount of how he had come into possession the innocent looking slip of paper that occupied the attention of everyone in the room.

"I don't know, really I don't. I mean, if this is a hoax then somebody not only has a sick mind but is going to be in a lot of trouble, but it could also be a trap to lure in the Autobots to whoever took Jazz's body and the All Spark shard in the first place, and if it isn't – if it's true and somebody out there had found this out and wants to help…We can't leave this unexplored, but we can't rush into it either."

Everyone at the table nodded at the Captains remarks on the situation. Optimus Prime spoke up then.

"I do not believe that this can in any way be a hoax, the letter describes our Sparks in almost perfect detail and I do not believe that any human has ever witnessed one"

Optimus turned to Banachek and Simmons, a silent question for confirmation. Banachek cleared his throat.

"There was only one incident, twenty years ago. The scientist was alone, working on Megatron. He was severely burned by the contact and never regained consciousness to tell anyone what he had seen and later died in hospital from an infection, so we can be sure that the description is a genuine first-hand account."

"What about the possibility of this being a trap?"

That question came from Secretary Keller. Simmons knew he took the protection of the Autobots, as the Earth's saviours, seriously. And that was probably the only reason Simmons was here, he knew Sector Seven in general and himself in particular had not made a good impression on the Secretary of Defence, but they needed all the help they could get right now. And he had noticed something which could be a big help.

"I don't think this is a trap, because of one thing mentioned in the letter"

"And that would be, Agent Simmons?"

"Just Simmons now, Prime. The letter mentions and describes a man called 'Davies' and I know who he is. He was a former Sector Seven agent and if you thought I was a prick, excuse my language, then this man would have been near the devil incarnate."

"And why do you think the mention of Davies validates the letter, Simmons?"

"I knew the man, Secretary. If this shit was going to hit the fan he would make sure he had an umbrella. He would never out himself or allow someone to out him, even to draw out someone he wanted. I believe that whoever sent this information is genuine."

Optimus heaved what Simmons was willing to guess was a sigh.

"So, Jazz _is_ alive, he has been captured by rouge former Sector Seven agents, they have the last shard of the All Spark and we have one week in which to plan an assault without knowing the trustworthiness of out informant or their information. We have a lot of work to do gentlemen."

And so began the planning of Operation Bass.


	5. 5 Operation Bass

Disclaimer: Not a thing, except the OC, ohh and Snow White the car, which is based off my own car (I really do call it that). Lyrics used belong to their respective bands/singers and songwriters/composers. The name 'Snow White' belongs to Disney, I think.

A/N: What you've all been waiting for, the rescue of Jazz! Long chapter, I had so much I wanted to put in, I couldn't stop.

Chapter 4 Operation Bass

Caitlyn took a moment to compose her features into a serene, emotionless mask as she stepped over the threshold of the Seen secure laboratory.

''_**Seen**__', the first two letters of 'Sector' and the last two of 'Seven', I can imagine Davies thinking how clever that was. Still personifying the disassembled secret government research agency, and yet being anonymous enough that no one would suspect that they are the remnants of Sector Seven.'_

Caitlyn did not like Davies, well that was a bit of an understatement, she had known many people she disliked and had managed to get along with them or avoid them. Davies made her hackles rise and she felt a primitive urge to bare her teeth at him when he talked. She dared not show any sign of emotion around him, bringing visions of ice and still pools of water into her mind to remind her of the persona she was using to avoid suspicion.

'_And it's getting to be such a drag, when was the last time I laughed? Real, true laughter at something that was actually funny or made me feel happy. Far too long Caitlyn, I'm so glad that this is coming to an end today, anymore of this 'Ice Queen' act and I'll forget how to use my facial muscles.'_

She hated what she'd become at the Seen labs, the façade she had put up to fit in. A cold-hearted scientist willing to break any and every rule written or unwritten to get the results wanted. Someone who didn't care how much a patient suffered just because he wasn't human, because he couldn't speak out to protest his treatment. It felt like a stain had seeped under her skin, staining her very blood, Caitlyn wanted out. NOW!

'_Well today I finally get what I want, if all has gone to plan.'_

Today was the date she had given to Captain Lennox to launch a rescue and retrieval, today she would be alone with Jazz's body, his Spark and the All Spark shard. Each of the fifteen scientists given full access had been given a day alone to study NBE-2 and come to their own conclusions about their findings. One of the scientists had saved her the trouble of drawing attention to herself by demanding that they be allowed to change the doors security code on their chosen day so there would be no "Annoyances and disturbances" during their study. Caitlyn was torn between hugging and smirking at the hard faced woman who had voiced the demand in her cultivated Russian accent, she had given Caitlyn the perfect way to keep Jazz's body safe during the attack on the facility and make sure that only those who were meant to help Jazz got to him, and had sent another letter with the code she had chosen to Captain Lennox. The smirk was because the woman obviously didn't trust her fellow scientists not to sabotage or plagiarise her work, but Caitlyn was only too happy to show her support for the request.

'_Let them believe I'm just like them and after today I won't ever have to pretend to be again. I can take some comfort from the fact that it seems I've passed completely under Davies radar, he just sees a young scientist in Biology ravenously looking for her big break into the spotlight.'_

She made her way to the secure room, not even looking at the armed guard who checked her ID and ushered her in. It took a lot not to look at the gun, back home she had never even seen a real, loaded gun, let alone one with such obvious firepower. She had no idea what kind of gun it even was! It made her uncomfortable until she was sealed inside the sound-proofed, bullet-proofed and possibly missile-proofed room. She breathed a sigh of relief and keyed in the code she had chosen, and then did something she was _not _supposed to do, changing the emergency manual override to her chosen code and disconnecting the computerised override. No one was getting in or out without her code, and the override disconnections hadn't been noticed.

'_Thank you, dear Fates, for technophilliacs willing to share what they know with seemingly innocent friends. And that particular friend would be shocked out of his Star Trek boxers if he knew I had actually used it, and probably even more shocked that I remembered how to do it. My lack of computer skills had always appalled him.'_

Reassured that even if the rescue didn't happen she would at least be around to get another chance to help Jazz Caitlyn looked around the room and was appalled by the sight of Jazz lying on the table with bits of his leg components scattered haphazardly around him. The scientist who had had their day of private research before her had left things in an utter _shambles_.

'_There is no way that I am letting him be found like this, it's disgraceful…Well maybe that's not the right word but it's still wrong. It's bad enough that they haven't even finished putting his upper torso back together with his abdomen and legs, and that was already half done when they stole him!'_

Caitlyn would be the first to admit she was slightly obsessive about order, she was nowhere near the level of an obsessive compulsive disorder, but she was still finicky about such things. And to her people should not have bits of themselves lying around, nor be in two halves, especially when they themselves could do nothing about it. The disrespect Seen showed to the alien machine who had given his life for a world that was not even his made her feel like she was swallowing vinegar and left about the same taste in her mouth.

"Can't leave you like this, what would your friends say? You're a handsome creation when all's said, even if it's in a more aesthetic taste; it's like seeing crayon scribble on Michelangelo's 'David'. But I'll see what I can do for that."

Caitlyn had always had a habit of talking to things besides people, yelling at the TV when someone in a movie was about to do something stupid, talking to animals she encountered, and murmuring encouragement to her car when it was about to stall. She felt that at some level it helped, even if the only one being helped was her. And she had to admit that Jazz had been built beautifully, sleek and shiny, like an expensive car, or a conceptualist statue and it annoyed her to see him in such disarray.

'_Besides talking to him might help, Jazz might be able to hear me and I'll bet that no one has talked to him in so long. If he's aware he has to be lonely and afraid, and if he isn't…Well __**I'm**__ lonely and afraid.'_

"So, I'd be guessing with a name like Jazz you'd like music? Well, even if it has nothing to do with your name I'll bet even alien machines like music. Dunno how I managed to sneak this in, you know they won't let us have MP3's, or Discmans, or phones with MP3's or any music on our PC's? Stupid rules, I always find I work better with it, keeps a little part of your mind thinking on something else, lets you think along different lines when the one you're on is a dead end."

She pulled her 'Silver Lifesaver' out of her bag and set the i-Pod on the table next to Jazz, and then pulled out the stereo dock, thanking fate that the room was sound-proofed. She connected the two and switched it on, letting the soothing music wash over her.

_**Thinking back, thinking of you. Remembering you, what happened to you…?**_

"I hope you don't mind me making the song choices, I don't know what your preference in music is; maybe you'll find some stuff you like? Sorry, it's all slow stuff, but I'm so twitchy right now anything fast is out of the question. I feel like I've had an extra large Starbucks, god that stuff is awful! Whatever happened to coffee made of _beans _and not having tons of synthetic flavour put in? The only thing like that I like is hazelnut and that's traditional."

Caitlyn knew she was chattering, but once she got to work she knew she'd be able to shut up with the running commentary. She turned to the computer and brought up the schematics of Jazz construction, she would have to follow the plans carefully, she was no NASA mechanic and she didn't want to even think about what would happen to Jazz if she put something where it didn't belong. She pulled the laptop over to where she was working so she could check the schematics when she needed to.

"Ok, let's see what I can get done for you. It's not going to be spectacular, but you'll be looking a little better than you are right now."

_**So take a look at me now…**_

****

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The ground troops had been moved in; aerial support was standing by and waiting. A command centre had been set, manned by Secretary Keller and his trusted advisors, along with Banachek and Simmons. Lennox and his team were at the forefront, ready to move in with the Autobots. They had not been detected; everything was peaceful outside the large facility proclaiming itself as 'Seen Research Libratory'. They had been taken aback at the size of the place and everyone had been warned that the civilian element inside the building might be greater than expected. Orders were given to hold fire unless someone was armed and not to go for a kill shot unless strictly necessary, although the Autobots were mostly there for their imposing presence and greater monitoring capabilities and also because it was by unspoken agreement that only the Autobots would handle the rescue and retrieval of Jazz, his separated Spark and the All Spark shard. No one blamed them for this slight, after all they had been the ones to lose them in the first place and also only the Cybertronians knew how to handle the Spark, it had been passed 'round the troops what the believed damage would be for a human to have contact with a Spark. The silence and tension was so thick the humans could feel it clogging their throats.

Will signalled Optimus and the Autobot Leader turned to Ironhide.

"There's your signal soldier, time to go."

Ironhide grinned and sighted the door of the facility, his canons whirring as they charged up, the plasma blast shot out and flew toward the main doors of the facility that held their friend, blasting against the obstruction in a chrysanthemum of flame, shattered and melted glass and rock chips. Ironhide had one thought as the teams moved in.

'_I can't take down these fragging humans for what they've done, but I can take it out on their building'_

It wasn't much of a substitute, but it would have to do.

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Caitlyn quickly pulled her hand away from the piece of pipe she was re-attaching to Jazz's right leg as she felt the explosion and sighed in relief.

_**Every second dripping off my fingertips…**_

'_He showed, they showed, Jazz will be alright and it's almost over for me too.'_

_**I'm not a soldier, says he's not afraid to die…**_

She smiled at the prone form on the bench, knowing that he couldn't see her expression and not caring.

"That's the cavalry; you're going to be out of here soon. I don't think it'll take much time for them to get here but I've got enough time to fix this last bit."

_**A clock is ticking, but it's hidden far away. Safe from sound, safe from sound…**_

She attached the piping and fixed it to the port she was sure it connected to. She turned and shut the laptop down, walked over to the table and set it down, and in a fit of giddy relief spun herself around, stumbling a little from the feeling of vertigo…and her hand came to rest on the clear case that held the living ball of blue, Jazz's Spark.

Her mind…exploded. Sounds far too loud, sights passing to quickly for her eyes to keep up with, smells that overloaded her nose, tastes she had never known, feelings so intense she could feel her skin burning with them. Everything but her mind froze, she could barely comprehend the sensations her body was receiving and then the thoughts began to flow, a mix of languages, some she even recognised, that slowly became one she was sure was had never been uttered by a human, the words all jumbled together, impossible to decipher. So many things, none of them staying long enough for her to figure them out, mixing into an unending stream. Most of her mind was shrieking by now but unbidden came a small thought from the one part of her brain that was still sane

'_I can't take this much more, my brain physically can't handle this, its killing me. I'm dying.'_

_**I can do almost anything to you…**_

Something…snapped and Caitlyn was sure she heard a physical sound of something under tension breaking, and for a second feared it had been her mind finally giving up under the strain. She fell against the table, hitting her chin on the edge on the way down. She lay on the cold floor, the relief it gave her burning skin was bliss. After a minute or so she crawled into a sitting position, looking at her skin, unable to believe that it was not even slightly reddened, let alone the blistered and charred mess she had been expecting.

'_What the fucking hell was that? What just happened then?'_

Already it had begun to fade, her mind unable to deal with it and burying it into her unconscious mind, repressing the memory of feeling and knowing so much that it had nearly killed her.

'_Have to get out of here, can't be found here, I must get moving.'_

Instinct took over her body, realising her conscious mind was not up to such a complicated task as getting up. Directing her to grab her gear and stow it away and move toward the door. For a moment consciousness gained control, her hoarse voice hissing across the room

"The Fates bring luck and good fortune for your future, Jazz."

That was enough to exhaust her and she slipped back into instinct and reflex, punching in the code, slipping through the door and then locking the door behind her.

She hurried through the corridors, passing others who were also fleeing, in her heightened state of instinct she spotted the military troops before they did and ducked around a corner into another corridor, breaking into a run, trying to remember where in the facility she was and where an exit might be.

'_North corridor, secure section, aisle E. Emergency fire door in aisle F, take the first left'_

She bolted round the corner, and stopped dead.

An Autobot was blocking the door, brilliant yellow with accents of black accentuating his form, she was fairly sure it was a he, taller than Jazz by a few feet, but built just as sleekly. Her breath stopped as it turned towards her, optics a living vivid blue

'_Nothing on Earth could have such eyes, so beautiful. Would Jazz's eyes be like that?'_

The crazed thought rushed through her mind and she resisted the urge to giggle hysterically, she was about to die and all she could think was 'damn, my killer has such pretty eyes'?

_You have so finally cracked it Caitlyn, you're a sandwich – wait a whole plate of sandwiches, a big shady tree, a wicker basket, a chequered blanket and an ant hill short of a picnic.'_

She waited in paralysed fear for her impending doom, but the Autobot scanned her and then turned back to watching the corridor. Tentatively she stepped forward toward the door, but the machine didn't move.

'_It's letting me go? It's letting me GO! Run, now, idiot.'_

She bolted through the door and sped into the car park, looking for her slightly battered while Hyundai, not remembering where she had parked it just a few short hours ago.

"Come on Snow White, kitten, where are you?"

'_You really need to stop talking to inanimate objects. Shut up.'_

She found her car and fumbled for her keys, the parking lot was half deserted, and most probably those who hadn't already fled had gotten caught. She slid in and turned the engine over with the ease of practice, reversing and pulling out of the lot, pushing her poor little car, gunning it for home. The radio, always on, blared out.

_**Drop that rhythm and you unwind…**_

_**Keep that feeling and you step in time…**_

She navigated toward her apartment, slightly surprised that she could do anything right now.

_**Suicide, suicide…**_

She pulled into the drive, letting her car idle while laying her head on the steering wheel for a moment, needing just a second before she left the security of her car.

_**Slow down, ease your mind…**_

She turned the car off and got out, locked it up, and walked to her door, unlocking it, stepping through, locking it again behind her, dropping her bag on the table, pulling out her i-Pod.

'_Some music and then…sleep, a __**lot**__ of sleep'_

She staggered to her room, struggled into her pyjamas and slid into bed. Replaced the earphones into the i-Pod and chose a song.

_**I need some sleep; you can't go on like this…**_

_**I tried countin' sheep, but there's one I always miss…**_

_**Everyone says I'm getting down to low…**_

_**Everyone says 'you just gotta let it go'…**_

_**You just gotta let it go…**_

_**You just gotta let it go…**_

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Music is…

Dakota by Sterophonics

Somewhere a Clock is Ticking by Snow Patrol

Suicide by Kosheen

I Need Some Sleep by Eels


	6. 6 Twentyseven Hours

Disclaimer: Own nothing but the OC, don't own Transformers, don't own the song lyrics. You know the drill.

A/N: Merry Belated Christmas or –insert other holiday here- and in case I don't post again before then, Happy Early New Year. Hopefully this will answer some of the questions raised by the last chapter. Read and see!

Chapter 5 Twenty-seven Hours

Caitlyn's stomach was what finally woke her, its demands for sustenance becoming stronger and stronger until the ache pulled her from the dark embrace of sleep.

'_Uhn, I feel...well for one I'm starving and for another my muscles __**hurt**__.'_

Even lying in bed she could feel the burn of abused muscles protesting, she was going to need a long, warm shower or perhaps even an extended soak in the tub to ease them. She didn't think she'd ever strained so many muscles quite so badly before, but what had she done yesterday to cause the pain?

'_What was it? Something about a clear case, with a ball of blue light...SHIT!'_

The resurgence of the memory of what had happened yesterday shocked her so violently that she jerked out of her bed and onto the floor with the force of it; her body quick to remind her just how little it appreciated her using it with a body-wide surge of agony.

'_I touched Jazz's SPARK CASING! A container for __**pure energy**__! How am I even still living?'_

A quick visual check found no bruising, scarring, burns or blisters. There was nothing but the muscle strain, probably the result of her body seizing up; no obvious physical sign of what her body had gone through. Idly she looked at the clock and gaped at the digital numbers it displayed like the thing had turned into some kind of monster.

'_It's three in the afternoon! I know I got home yesterday about midday. That's, that's __**twenty seven**__ hours I've been asleep! Fates and Muses Caitlyn – twenty seven hours straight!'_

The very thought brought back the events of yesterday, the rescue and her own escape and Caitlyn felt relived and something else…saddened.

'_It's maybe selfish or stupid, I wish I could have stayed, but it would have been idiotic to do so. Anything connecting me to Seen or the Autobots could cause an enemy or danger I don't need. Anonymity is the best shot, even if the government didn't decide to try me as a criminal or terrorist for my involvement with Seen, then my former employer will surely find out I was the leak, either way I have people looking to cause me grief and frankly I don't trust anyone to care about my wellbeing right now. Damn trust issues, life would be so much simpler if I could find the courage to trust someone other than myself once in a while.'_

But that was a moot point and right now she was sore, lying on her bedroom floor in a tangle of blankets, and absolutely _starving_. She got up gingerly and hobbled the few meters into the kitchen, wondering what she could devour that would fill her, but wouldn't require much effort to make or eat.

'_Mmmmmm, Cornflakes and milk...filling corn and dairy goodness_'

Caitlyn shuffled around the kitchen, pulling out a bowl, the Cornflakes packet, a spoon and the milk from the fridge, remembering to put it back in the fridge when she had used it, she hated it when the milk spoiled – it stank! She ate ravenously, hurriedly wiping the milk that spilled down her chin in her haste to get the food into her system. After she had finished the bowl she looked at it wistfully.

'_I really could go another of those, but I'm running out of food. How long had it been since I went shopping? Quite a while actually, after my bath I think I need to go out and stock up.'_

Mind made up she made another bowl, sitting down again to eat, taking her time now that her stomach had realised it was getting fed and had ceased its demands in favour of preparing to digest the food she was giving it. The bowl emptied once again, Caitlyn put the bowl in the sink and rinsed it out, setting it and the spoon on the drying rack.

'_Now, bath time with Epsom salts to help my muscles, ohhh I so am looking forward to this.'_

She walked to the bathroom and pugged in the small portable boom box she had, checking the CD and finding it satisfactory for a nice long soak pushed 'PLAY'.

_**More than it seems these dreams inside… Blur reality's line…**_

She turned the taps on and checked that the water wouldn't be too hot, but also wouldn't cool down too much before she wanted to get out and let the water run.

_**If I could believe the dreams aside…I am capable more than it seems…**_

As the bath ran she looked for the Epsom salts she knew she had, finally finding them in the cupboard in a clearly marked jar, she poured a liberal amount into the half-full tub, swirling the water with her hand to help them dissolve.

_**Passing through darkness into my own world…Will I be more than when I left… **_

She then tied her hair up into a high ponytail, stripped off her PJ's and sank into the blissfully streaming water, the heat already beginning to work on the tense and abused muscles.

_**Never letting go of the lessens I learned…This will make a change…A change within me...**_

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Bumblebee sat with the other Autobots and their human friends as they debriefed and discussed the successful mission, Ratchet was the only one missing, because as soon as they had gotten Jazz's body and Spark back to base he had practically grabbed both and retreated to his new med-bay to run scans, repair any damage and prevent anymore occurring before he started working on a plan for the delicate operation that would return Jazz to them. All were almost unbearably excited by the thought that soon the music-loving, charming, visored lieutenant would soon return to them. But still the pressing question remained – How had Jazz survived in the first place?

'Bee had noticed his charges eyes glaze over a little and his facial features take on the look he recognised as being 'contemplative'. He stayed quiet, knowing his charge was thinking something through and coming to a conclusion. Finally his charge seemed to reach a conclusion and spoke.

"Optimus?"

"Yes, Sam?"

"Back at Mission city when I was running to the building, I fell and the All Spark let out a surge and it turned that Mountain Dew machine, an X-Box 360 and that SUV into Transformers"

Optimus and the others nodded, it had been quite a task bringing in the drink dispenser and SUV Transformers and they still hadn't accounted for the X-Box, but so far it seemed that _that_ particular Transformer didn't have the homicidal tendencies of the others so they were able to leave it be with a clear conscience for the time being.

"I was thinking, that surge it let lose was pretty strong, it's strange it only created three Transformers, this is just a guess but it seems to fit, what if the rest of the surge went into reviving Jazz? He had only just been attacked by Megatron, maybe the surge didn't actually bring him back to life – just helped him hold on to it?"

Sam looked hopefully at the leader, hoping his suggestion sounded as good to the others as it did to him. Optimus looked pensive, they had to admit that it was one of the few conclusions they had come to and it also was one of the most solid theories on Jazz's miraculous survival.

"That seems the best bet we have Sam. Jazz is perhaps the only person who can answer us but whether he has any memory of it is questionable. That will have to suit for the human scientists in any case."

Optimus looked slightly smug as he said that and 'Bee smiled along with his charge. The human scientists constant pestering of Optimus about how Jazz had managed to live had been very annoying and he knew it would amuse his leader to give them an answer that was not completely, one hundred percent verified.

"Were there any human casualties, Optimus?"

"Only twenty in all Captain Lennox. It might seem a lot but there were many humans in the facility, and they were the only ones who were armed and dangerous and could not be subdued by your military, unfortunately the only option left to the soldiers was to terminate them," Was Optimus' reply.

"I don't think anyone much will mourn then somehow, Optimus. How many did we manage to capture?" Asked Will.

"About two hundred at the facility, perhaps another fifty caught trying to leave the state or country, unfortunately no one of much use. No one even _saw_ Davies, he got out undetected somehow, probably had an escape plan all along, little glitch. We would have had one of the scientists who actually worked on Jazz, _if _Bumblebee hadn't let her escape."

'Bee wished that like humans he could blush to show his embarrassment at Ironhide's rebuke, but settled for turning his faceplates away from the weapons specialist and looking at the ground.

"We're not supposed to harm humans, and the poor femme's heart- and pulse-rate as well as her adrenaline levels showed extreme distress, she was so terrified that if I had tried to stop her she would have tried to fight back and I would have probably caused her injury even if I had not intended to."

"You don't think you can handle one little human femme?"

Ironhide could not keep the incredulity out of his voice.

"Hey, Ironhide, don't diss us 'femmes'."

That comment came from Mikaela, and she continued to elaborate.

"You have no idea how violent chicks can get. I've seen things you wouldn't believe just from cat-fights at school. 'Bee probably did the best thing, and anyway he managed to get a good picture of her, she's not going anywhere. I doubt it's gonna be long before she gets picked up."

'Bee was slightly…unsettled at Mikaela's vindictive tone and victorious expression. But she, like Sam had risked her life for the Autobots and they for her, they all shared a strong bond, while he was unsettled he could still understand and empathise with her view in the matter.

'_She can't run, she won't be able to hide, it'll all get sorted out but the most important thing is that we have Jazz, safe and sound again... That is, until he gets himself into trouble again.'_

The thought was a happy one; it seemed that Jazz was going to be a thorn in the side of both the Decepticons and Ratchet for a while yet.

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Davies was _furious_, perhaps even more so than when he had been informed of the dissolution of Sector Seven. He had lost _another one_! NBE-2 was long gone, the project that had barely gotten started stalled, and it was becoming increasingly unlikely that the NBE's would drop their guard again. More complications, setbacks and dammed hell of a mess to clean up, they had not even seen this coming and that was even more maddening.

'_Someone informed the government and the Autobots; someone planned this, someone who had all the right information to give them.'_

Well, even if he never knew exactly _who_ had set them up, he would make sure they never got the chance again, starting with those who had been closest to the truth. He turned to Thomson, who waited for Davies orders in regard to the fifteen scientists they had deemed fit to know the truth of the project.

"Eliminate them; I don't care how you arrange it. Even if one of them didn't turn on us they know too much to be left alone. Get it done _soon_."

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Music is….

More Than It Seems By Kutless.


	7. 7 Matching Face

Chapter 6 Matching Face

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

A/N: Happy New Year! I did not expect to have another chapter so soon, but for some reason I really needed to write. Thanks to Tomorrow4eva for the spelling corrections, gramma was never my strong point and SpellCheck doesn't always pick up everything. Enjoy my wonreful readers!

Caitlyn finally managed to convince herself to exit her bath, it had been so wonderful to just sit there and soak, to think about nothing and just revel in the sensations of liquid warmth from the water, the glow of afternoon light around the bathroom and the clear notes from the boom box echoing clearly from the tiles walls.

_**And I can't help but wonder what it is you do…**_

She sighed as she managed to finally convince her body to escape the tub, grabbing a nice fluffy towel and pulling the plug.

_**You're a question to the universe, a wonder to the world…**_

She turned to the boom box and hit the 'STOP' button, cutting off the singer in mid-note.

'_I don't like not listening to the whole song, but I don't particularly want it to be dark before I get to the supermarket. Now exactly what do I need?'_

She finished towelling off as she ran through a list of what she needed in her mind, walking back into her room and grabbed some well-worn three-quarter jeans and a pale green top, spraying on some deodorant before she got dressed. She walked back into the bathroom to check her hair, pausing in front of the mirror as she brushed it out.

_Not too bad, I really need a haircut at some point. I want a fringe, not bangs!'_

She strode into the kitchen, sat down at the table with a ped and pad of paper, even if she had been going through the list in her mind she still knew she had to write it down or she would forget something or even a lot of somethings. She completed her list, grabbed her bag and walked out her door to the car.

The drive to the closest supermarket in Tranquillity didn't take much time at this time of day, it was quarter to five, people were either home already or still working, children already let out of school. Caitlyn found a car park close to the supermarket entrance without much fuss.

'_Whoot! Superpark!_'

She mentally crowed with glee, she _loved_ getting a superpark. Sure, her little car wasn't exactly hard to reverse out, but it was nice to get a break once in a while. She walked into the 'air-conditioned comfort' of the supermarket.

'_Air-conditioned __**comfort**__ my arse, either they've got it set way too high or not on at all.'_

She remembered one of her first jobs as a waitress before she had gotten her qualifications; it had never been cool enough in there and she swore that sometimes she could feel her make-up sliding off her face she was sweating that much.

'_Ah, the good old days, those wonderful_ _four hour shifts in absolute sweltering hell, at least I never violated human rights... unless you count the carpet pattern. I swear that that stuff was designed to turn the human mind into crazy grey porridge'_

She had no idea if you would actually create a carpet pattern that would make people go insane, but guessed it might be a possibility.

'_Nothings certain, hell now you know that aliens really exist, can't rule __**anything**__ out, might as well start going into forests during the full moon looking for mooncalves.'_

She snorted audibly at the thought, not even drawing a curious look from the bored cashier. That was slightly saddening, back home she had always talked to the 'checkout chicks' if they weren't too busy. Here it seemed that was taboo. She grabbed a trolley and headed down the first isle looking for breakfast cereal.

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"Agent Malone, have you managed to infiltrate the targets house, are you secure?"

Agent Malone heard his superior's voice loud and clear from his earphone.

"Yes, and yes agent Davies sir."

Currently he was located in the wardrobe of the target he had been assigned, an overused tactic perhaps, but quite effective. He waited for Davies to reply.

"Good, you will get a heads up when the target is two minutes from you location, after that you're on your own. Do not fail this mission; the target was privy to extremely sensitive information and must be eliminated!"

"I am not in the habit of failing agent Davies, sir."

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"Sam, 'Bee, Ironhide, Optimus! We've got a match from one of the live feeds!"

Mikaela sounded pretty sure this time and they hadn't had any matches for most of the day. Sam and the others hurried over to where Mikaela, Glen and Maggie was taking their turns at the monitors streaming live feeds from surveillance videos from around Tranquillity, the Autobots had rigged the feeds from Banks, Supermarkets and security surveillance to cross reference with the photograph from 'Bee's optical memory banks. Currently Mikaela was excitedly urging Maggie to re-check the match while Glen tracked where the feed had come from.

"The match is perfect, it has to be her!" Maggie exclaimed.

"The feed is coming from a supermarket located in south Tranquillity, on Iris Street, street number is 325." Glen announced, reading the information from the computer monitor.

"Mikaela, contact Lennox, Simmons and the Sec Def and inform them we have located one of the scientists. Maggie, Glen, keep communications open with Ironhide, Bumblebee and myself, we are going to tail the girl until we hear from the Sec Def. Sam, you are coming with us, ride with Bumblebee, we may need you."

Optimus didn't say _what_ they might need Sam for, but they all understood that he might be the best to talk to the girl should the need arise, but also he would be the only one out of the group going who was not under oath to harm members of the human race. The thought was a little chilling, but Mikaela completely understood the Autobots reasoning.

'_Sam is also probably the most forgiving of all us humans, Optimus certainly knows better than to send me'_

Mikaela knew she'd made her negative opinion of the female scientist pretty clear.

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Caitlyn handed over the cash for her purchases to the still sullen cashier, who hadn't uttered anything other than what was necessary to make the purchase.

'_Customer service sure sucks here, can you at least __**pretend**__ like you're not having your teeth pulled out through your anal tract?'_

It didn't really matter, and maybe the girl was having a bad day, or had a headache or was just plain tired. Right now she had food for the next week and really that was all she had wanted.

'_Hmmmm…' _She mused as she walked to the car

'_What can I make for tea tonight? Perhaps some Risotto, with chicken and maybe cheese?'_

That sounded good and she could make enough for three nights and freeze two portions to be eaten later. The rice wouldn't take long to cook, neither would the chicken and she had all the ingredients she needed, Caitlyn smiled as she loaded her groceries into to boot of her car.

'_Whoa, lookie at that flash piece!'_

Caitlyn didn't know cars, but the bright yellow sporty-looking car with black accents parked on the other side of the road looked nice.

'_Looks expensive but could be a lemon for all I know or a cheap Japanese thing but I don't think so. Whoever owns it sure takes care of it, so shiny!'_

If there was one thing Caitlyn loved it was shiny things, be it a car's paintjob, jewellery or a sequined top.

'_You're a bloody magpie and you always have to go for the expensive stuff don't you?'_

She shook her head at her own folly and got in the car to drive home, mentally making preparations for her dinner, listening to the radio with only half an ear.

_**I can feel it coming in the air tonight...**_

The road was a little busier than when she had gotten to the supermarket, people coming home from work - and there was something she needed to think about.

_**I've been waiting for this moment for all my life…**_

'_I doubt there's anymore research positions going here and I don't think it'd be a good idea to leave Tranquillity just yet, maybe wait a month or two until things die down. There's always massage to go back to, thank the fates for the resurgence in natural therapies.'_

_**I've seen your face before my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am...**_

Massage was where she had started, having a talent for making the pain ease but she had become increasingly interested in anatomy while doing her diploma of natural therapies and from there had made her way into the 'hard' sciences of Biology and Anatomy .

_**I remember, I remember don't worry...How could I ever forget?...**_

'_Still not sure if that was a stupid road to go down, right now going into research is looking like the biggest mistake I've ever made.'_

_**It's the first time, the last time, we ever met...**_

She pulled up to her apartment, pulling the lever for the boot, grabbing her groceries and heading for the door; fumbling a bit for her keys with her hands occupied. Finally she managed to get in the door, plonking the groceries on the kitchen table. She needed a hair tie; she hated cooking with her hair loose even if the only one eating the food was her.

She headed for her bedroom to get one, grabbing it from her bedside table and pulling up her hair, suddenly all the windows of the house were flooded with light.

_Hey! What the bloody hell, would you turn off your high beams? Moron!'_

Probably some idiot who was lost or drunk, either way the bright light was shining right in her eyes and it hurt.

'_Uh, but if it's just a car, how is the light getting into my bedroom window, at the back of the block, with another apartment block blocking out the road?'_

Caitlyn felt panic, something wasn't right and she had lost her vision because of the bright lights. She did not like being unable to see.

'_What in the hell is happening?'_

Somehow she heard the wardrobe from across the room creak, then the window she was standing near smashed inward; she threw up her arms to protect her head and twisted away from the flying glass...

Bang!

Pain ripped through her right arm, searing across her deltoid muscle. Bodies surged through the broken window and she could hear other windows smashing, her front door being broken down and more people come crashing in, voices yelling, someone grabbed her by her throbbing arm, and it because a river of fire, she shrieked and threw a punch in retaliation, there was another struggle going on near her, the hand that had her arm let go and she heard someone began yelling for an ambulance and Caitlyn began to calm down.

'_It's ok; you're going to a hospital.'_

Caitlyn went quietly with the person leading her, her vision darkened by the bright lights so that she couldn't be clear about who was leading her, but they weren't touching her arm anymore and didn't seem inclined to harm her.

'_It'll be alright.'_

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Music is...

Wonder by Megan McCauley

In The Air Tonight by Holly McNarland


	8. 8 Majority Votes

Disclaimer: I don't own them and it;s not worth sueing me.

A/N: I am _so_ sorry it took me so long to update, my e-mail went glitchy and wouldn't send the chapter to my Beta -Who is oh so wonderful- and it took a bit of sorting out. But it's here thank Primus!

Chapter 7 Majority Votes

Optimus stared at the young human female in the questioning room on the live hook-up from the FBI offices; he found it hard to believe that such a young human could be connected with the crimes she was accused of.

'_She would not be that much older than Bumblebee and even throughout the long war he has never committed an atrocity as this.' _

All the other Autobots and their human friends were there too, watching the interrogation through the live feed; it had been agreed that Optimus in the least should be there in some way and also that he be allowed to voice his thoughts on any judgements that were to be made regarding the scientist, Optimus himself would not have the last word, nor did he want it, whatever the human had done it was not his place to deal out judgement. He could not help wondering what would happen to her. She was painfully young, even by how humans reckoned such things.

'_How did she end up working with Seen?'_

He felt sorry for the femme though, he knew that nothing was ever clearly in black and white and she had not gotten out of it without some harm. The FBI had only just managed to prevent the Seen assassin from completing his mission. She had been grazed by a bullet shot and looked to be still in some pain or discomfort as well as being very frightened.

'_Why did she continue to work for Seen?'_

Optimus was about to get his answer.

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Caitlyn felt the strong urge to bang her head against the metal table she was seated at, repeatedly.

''_It's ok; you're going to a hospital.' 'It'll be alright.' Moron, moron, moron! Stupid god dammed bloody idiot! What exactly were you thinking Caitlyn? Were you thinking at all? Just because they're not trying to kill you does not mean they don't mean you ill!'_

Sure, the nice man who had led her out of her house had gotten her medical attention for the bullet graze she had gotten, and then she had ended up in an the back of an armoured truck, windows darkened so she didn't know where she was going. By the time she had gotten over she shock and the painkillers she had been given and realised that she was in serious trouble there was absolutely nothing she could do. And now she was in an interrogation room and wondering...Well many things, none of the lightning quick, nervous thoughts had any content she wanted to examine to closely.

She was scared, well actually she was one step away from hysterical, and she wanted to scream out, to yell and protest her ignorance. Caitlyn was in a whole world, no a whole _universe_, of trouble and she really wished that she wasn't but she had made a mistake, one that was worst than most, and it required repayment.

'_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I really am sorry; I didn't want to be there but I had to stay, I helped! I knew it was wrong but I helped and I swear I'm not like them, I swear!'_

A guard and a man in a suit entered the room with a slight 'click' as the door opened and another as it closed behind them. The guard took up a position to her left and slightly behind her. Caitlyn's neck felt cold, even though she knew it was a calculated move to make her nervous it didn't stop the reaction. The man in the suit carried a small file, two photographs and two plastic sleeves; he sat down with exaggerated care across the table from her and placed the file and the two photographs on the surface, facing them her way so she could see them.

The file was definitely from Seen, the first photograph she was sure had been taken the day of the attack on the Seen laboratory and second had been taken only today!

'_Probably from a security camera_ _at the supermarket, they work fast. Well there's no use denying I was there, fuck me.'_

The man then placed the two plastic sleeves on the table, one contained the shopping list she had made that afternoon and the other...contained the two letters she had sent to Captain Lennox, with handwriting that unmistakably matched that of her shopping list.

'_Fuck me __**sideways**__, they know I was the leak. And if they know then it's not gonna be long before Seen finds out too, I don't want to get shot again! They won't stop until I'm dead! Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit!'_

Now Caitlyn was hysterical. She almost didn't notice that the man in the suit had begun to ask questions.

"Miss Caitlyn Victoria Edens?"

She paused in her terrified inner rant to consider the question, having to take some time before it got through what the answer should be.

"Yes."

There was no point in lying, there was no point in anything, she was _so_ dead, she just wasn't lying down yet.

"Born August 17th 1985 in the township of Shepparton, State of Victoria, citizen of Australia, currently in the United States on a six-month work Visa?"

"Yes"

"You were employed by a research group known as 'Seen laboratories' two months previous?"

"Actually it's more like two months and a week."

Oh geeze, she was _correcting _them? Why?

'_Maybe because you just want to see just how deep a hole you can dig for yourself? Might as well indulge in that almost suicidal curiosity now.'_

To her surprise the man in the suit actually took out a ballpoint pen from his jacket pocket and wrote something on a pad of paper, cleverly held so that she couldn't see what was being written.

"So, Miss Edens, when was it that you became privy to what it was that Seen was actually studying?"

"Less than a week ago."

The man actually looked up at her, as if the answer was something of a surprise.

"And what information did Seen give you previously about the research you were engaging in?"

"That we were doing a comparative anatomy study that could have great benefits for the general improvement of human health."

Caitlyn was getting tired of this; surely he knew the answers to the questions he was asking? He had to be stalling, but why and what for?

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The Autobot base was in uproar, because the FBI headquarters could not even fit a small 'bot like Bumblebee inside they had relocated to the base to 'discuss' the strange revelations about the captured Seen scientist.

Ironhide believed that what was going on was more of a verbal riot than a discussion. As he saw it the scientist was the one who had given them the information that had gotten them Jazz back and that slightly lessened his desire to blast the little human femme to the Pit, however she had still been involved with Seen and that couldn't be excused, no matter how little she had known or how young she was.

Optimus and the Sec Def were not sharing his opinion, though. And it would be their decision what happened to the femme, not his.

'_Pity for me and my cannons but its good news for her. I don't envy Optimus having to make decisions like this, putting your own feeling on the matter aside so you can make a judgement that's fair to everyone. It'd blow out my processors just trying to figure it all out.'_

He watched Optimus and the Sec Def try and work out a compromise, a thoroughly exhausting exchange to even _watch_. They both agreed that the girl couldn't go free, she had been involved in something illegal, and also Seen had already tried to kill her. Whatever might happen to her the death sentence or even life imprisonment was considered far too harsh. She also might be of help in dealing with Seen, but she needed to have an eye kept on her. Putting her in protective custody was also out of the question because she was not a US citizen.

'_This femme is turning into much more of a nuisance than she's worth.'_

Then Bumblebee voiced an opinion that floored them all.

"Why don't we keep an eye on her? She'll never get past us and anything she knows about Cybertronian physiology would be a lot of help for Ratchet, we already know she's familiar with Jazz and Ratchet wouldn't ever say but he does need some help putting Jazz back online."

Ironhide stared at the little scout/spy in disbelief. Could he have just suggested what Ironhide thought he had?

"You mean to say that we should have that little...human living here?!"

"Why not Ironhide? We already have Sam and Mikaela living here for protection, you think you can't handle one little femme?"

Ironhide glared at the yellow scout, but there was nothing he could say against his own words.

"We _trust_ Sam and Mikaela; we know whose side they're on. Who knows what that scientist could do if she was living with us?"

"She risked her life to help us Ironhide, to help Jazz – Surely that's a good indication of whose side she's on?"

"Not necessarily 'Bee."

"I dunno Ironhide; humans don't tend to go out on a limb to help someone unless they really want to, we value our lives very highly, and our limbs, seeing as they can't be so easily re-attached." Sam said thoughtfully.

Ironhide groaned.

"So now it's both of you?"

"Actually I would say it's three."

Ratchet had finally emerged from the med-bay; even medics needed recharge and energon and he had chosen a particularly pertinent time to emerge for both. Ironhide suspected it was not coincidence.

"'Bee is right; I would appreciate some help with Jazz, although I am not as stubborn as he seems to think I am. As long as I am convinced of the femme's integrity I am willing to accept her help."

Optimus and the Sec Def had been watching the exchange with interest.

"So Bumblebee, Sam and Ratchet, you are in favour of the femme being given into our care?"

"Yes Optimus." Were the three replies.

"And Ironhide, you are not in favour?"

"No Optimus."

"Mikaela, what do you think?"

The girl looked uncomfortable.

"I really don't know anymore, Optimus. This morning I would have gone with Ironhide, but I just don't know now."

"So we have three votes for 'yes', one for 'no' and an undecided vote. I am sorry Ironhide but my vote goes with the majority, I do believe this femme may be a valuable inclusion, but should she prove not to be the decision can be rescinded."

The Sec Def finally spoke to Optimus.

"So you and your soldiers are willing to take care of the scientist?"

"Unless we deem she is a danger to us, Mr Secretary."

"We will release custody of her to you, then. Thank you Optimus, I know this can't be easy for you but you've saved us a lot of trouble."


	9. 9 Interrupted Arrival

Disclaimer: Do not own.

A/N: Another chapter, 'coz the writing bug bit me. Hope this brings happiness.

Chapter 8 Interrupted Arrival

Another half-hour, at least as far as Caitlyn could tell without a clock, of completely mundane questions by the nice man in the suit, another hour, yet again not exact, spent in a small, cold concrete cell that surprisingly contained her handbag and to her confused joy her i-Pod, there was no signal on her phone but what would she have done if there was?

'_Oh, how funny would that have been? "Hello, nine-one-one emergency what is your emergency?" "I've been kidnapped by the Fed's for involvement in an alien conspiracy." Yep, that sort of thing would go down like a lead balloon.'_

And now she was in a black government vehicle with tinted windows, accompanied by a driver and two guards. They had been travelling since that morning, after a night spent in that cell barely sleeping because of the cold and her meeting with the US governments Secretary of Defence and the news he had borne.

'_If I thought I was screwed before I wonder what I am right now. Completely and utterly fucked-to-the-wall is looking to be the best contender.'_

Caitlyn played through the memories of the quietly confident, grey haired man telling her in a calm voice, betraying no emotion, that the US government had arranged for her to be placed under house arrest – At the Autobots base.

Needless to say she had exploded.

"_And what the fuck on Earth do you think is going to make me do that? And I'd really like a recording of the conversation you have when you try and tell the Autobots that __**I'm **__their new housemate! I wonder just how many Earth curses and swearwords they've picked up while they've been here and that conversation is likely to be a good indicator."_

And the unflappable man had replied that the Autobots _knew_ that she was being placed in their custody and in fact one of their own people had actually suggested it and another had seconded the decision and asked for her help.

"_And I'm supposed to believe that? Next you'll tell me one of them is actually the tooth fairy."_

"_No, I don't believe any of them have been on Earth long enough to have masqueraded as the tooth fairy, Miss Edens. But while they are not going to completely forgive your actions they do understand that they were not intentional and they believe the work you did at Seen may help them in bringing their friend back 'online' as they call it." _

That statement had given her pause; it was perfectly logical and sensible, even for alien robots. But it could still be a lie.

'_But it's not as if I had much say in the matter, the wheels were set in motion and I could either turn with them or get crushed.'_

So now it was a boring car ride across the country. It was mid-afternoon, she had barely any idea where they were or where they were going, the guards weren't very talkative and all she had for comfort was her i-Pod. But it was a whole lot better than nothing, a whole lot better than the cell and possibly better than being dead.

_**Sometimes illusions aren't so simple...Sometimes goodbyes the only way...**_

The music complemented her mood very well.

_**And the sun will set for you...and the sun will set for you...And the shadow of the day...Will embrace the world in grey...And the sun will set for you...**_

She hadn't really thought about it, being too busy fearing for her life, but now it had hit her. She was leaving everything behind, there was no doubt in her mind that her life had been irrevocably changed and right now her decisions were not being made by her, she was technically a prisoner, and she did not like it.

_**In cards and flowers on the window...You're friends all plead for you to stay...Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple...Sometimes goodbyes the only way...**_

'_It's like my life had ended, do people in prison feel this way? All those long term plans, having a pet, finding a partner, buying a house, having kids, all those things; all of that's in question now, things that should have been certain aren't anymore and it's...painful and scary.'_

_**And the sun will set for you...The sun will set for you...And the shadow of the day... Will embrace the world in grey... And the sun will set for you...**_

Caitlyn felt her eyes ache, her throat tighten but she wouldn't allow herself to cry, not yet. She didn't want to cry just yet.

'_You keep thinking of the worst case scenario, this might not be forever. Come on, look on the bright side, the Autobots don't hate you, otherwise why would they have given this offer? You're going to meet with an alien species, real aliens and ones not stuck outside of their bodies like poor Jazz, isn't this what you dreamed of? Ever since you saw Star Wars, started reading sci-fi you always wondered and hoped that there was something else out there, wanted it so badly to be true...And now it is. Sure that way you found out wasn't preferable but you __**know**__. Isn't that worth it? It's not like you had much of a life to leave at the present time is it?'_

She breathed deep, changed the i-Pod to 'shuffle' and truly gave the thought consideration. Was she excited? And if she was truthful with herself there was a kernel of exhilaration, much like the feeling when she had first seen Jazz, little more than a week and a half ago. But it seemed so much longer than that. But, yes, she was excited under the fear.

'_If they haven't blown the planet to bits after what Sector Seven did to the All Spark then possibly they can find it in their, metaphorical, hearts to forgive me? I really am sorry and if I could've I would have gotten Jazz out of there the minute I knew what was happening. I highly doubt that a race that's been at war for centuries has never made mistakes or done something they wish they hadn't.' _

The music, as if reacting to her thoughts, had changed to an instrumental piece, mostly sting instruments and percussion, with some vocals, brave and hopeful. It gave her resolve strength and once again she blessed the person who had left the i-Pod in her cell.

'_This won't be easy, you can't expect to be forgiven just now, but you __**know**__ you aren't such a bad person and they'll see that. Just...go with the flow.'_

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_**Hey are you OK? (OK)...You look pretty low...Very handsome awkward...Do you feel OK? (OK)...You look pretty low...Very handsome awkward...Hey are you OK? (OK)...You look pretty low pretty low pretty low...Pretty handsome awkward...Do you feel OK?)...You look pretty low pretty low pretty low...Pretty handsome awkward...**_

Sam swore that he jumped several feet in the air when he heard to music blast out just behind him, his heart deciding it wasn't safe and trying to exit his chest.

"'Bee! Do you have to do that? I'm going to have a heart attack one of these days, and then you'll be sorry."

"I doubt it Sam, Ratchet says that your cardiac system is functioning perfectly and if any changes were to occur he would inform me."

"So, why are you using Earth music as a weapon of offence?"

"You have not been yourself today, you won't talk to anybody. I want to know what is worrying you."

Sam managed a smile at his guardian, all the Autobots were cautious regarding their human friends' health, physical and emotional, but no one was better at spotting his moods than his guardian. It was...nice having someone who knew almost exactly what you were thinking, to cheer you up when you felt unhappy, comfort you when you were sad.

'_I love my car.'_

"It's...I dunno 'Bee. It's just a lot of things, the scientist, Jazz, me and Mikaela, Mission city, Barricade and Starscream, the other Autobots, the All Spark, Cybertron. Everything just keeps piling up; everything's so complicated and unstable. It's...Just so..."

Sam paused and pulled his hands through his hair, frustrated as his inability to just say what was wrong, it didn't help that he wasn't even actually sure what was wrong. 'Bee sat on the floor and held out his hands to Sam and he clambered gratefully into them, sitting down while 'Bee brought his hands up near his chest. Sam leaned back gratefully, feeling the warmth of 'Bee's spark through the armour on his guardian's chest on his back and hearing the soft 'thud thud' of his fuel pump. He could relax here, knowing that he was as protected and safe as he was ever going to get.

"So...What is wrong with you and Mikaela? Everything else is perfectly normal for you to be worrying about, even if most of them are things you can't fix, but I thought you and her were happy?"

"We are 'Bee, but...what we felt at Mission city, when we met you...You've got to understand humans are very unstable, there were a lot of emotions running high and that's not a good foundation to build a relationship on. We were, I guess, convenient for each other, she was my crush and I guess when she got to know me I was a bit of a crush too. We both feel the same way, we'll always be friends because of what we went through together but we're not soul mates or anything."

'Bee was silent and Sam knew he didn't really know what to say. The way Ratchet and Optimus had explained it love wasn't quite the hit and miss affair for cybertronians that it was for humans. They _knew_ when they found 'the one', their Sparks called out to each other, and once they were 'bonded' they would always know how the other was feeling.

'_That'd be nice, none of that walking on eggshells because you don't know what's wrong or if you've done something wrong.'_

Music began to play softly and Sam smiled at 'Bee's choice of song and leaned his head on his guardians armour in a wordless gesture of thanks, even if he didn't understand what Sam was going through he still knew just what to say.

_**Flames to dust...Lovers to friends...Why do all good things come to an end?...Flames to dust...Lovers to friends...Why do all good things come to an end?...Come to an end come to an end...Why do all things come to an end?...Come to an end come to an end...Why do all good things come to an end?...**_

****

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They had been driving through desert for roughly the past forty-five minutes; there was practically no road, but a large, metal building, probably a factory or something like that, had appeared on the horizon and Caitlyn had guessed that that was their destination.

'_The Autobot base...Well.'_

She was nervous and excited and the warring factions of butterflies were really going at it in her intestines. Her i-Pod had turned traitor and was only making the situation worse.

_**It's times like these you learn to live again...It's times like these you give and give again...It's times like these you learn to love again...It's times like these and time and time again...**_

'_Ok, so it's obvious this is a big turning point in my life but must inanimate objects insist on hammering the point home? Exactly how is this sort of thing supposed to go? If I wing it will I remain with all my limbs attached and vital signs still there?'_

They stopped at the front of the base, one of the guards pulling open the door and ushering her out after himself. Caitlyn felt a driving urge to stay in the car, knowing that once she got out things were going to get complicated. She finally forced herself out the door.

They waited outside the bases 'entrance' which was basically a large square hole that had been cut when the original door had been. That door was _very_ large and when the blue and red flame patterned Autobot came out Caitlyn could see why.

'_Oh. My. Gods. That...guy is frickin' huge!'_

And as another three came out behind him it only got worse. The red and blue one was the biggest, but there was a black one with a lot of guns and a yellow-green one who weren't much smaller, even the smaller yellow one she recognised was huge. And she realised that Jazz would actually have been the smallest in the group. She was so riveted by the sight of the Autobots that she didn't even see the other humans.

'_Oh gods, oh Fates, how am I supposed to live with these guys? I'm gonna get stepped on! I'm going to completely ruin my neck just looking at them! And oh no, oh no, the big ones coming closer, oh he's gonna walk right up to me arggghhhh!'_

He stopped just in front of Caitlyn, and she practically had to look straight up to see him, then he knelt down in front of her and brought his face close to hers, far, far to close for her comfort right now. And then he spoke, a booming voice like an angel from heaven.

'_That must be why Angels say 'do not fear' 'coz that voice is damn frightening!'_

"Miss Edens? I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

"..."

Caitlyn's voice simply would not work, and her body felt so heavy and blackness invaded her vision as the last few days decided to catch up with her with a vengeance. Caitlyn hit the ground.

Optimus looked at the others with confusion, Ratchet, 'Bee, Sam and Mikaela tried not to laugh.

"What did I do?"

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Music used...

Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park

Arrival to Earth by Steve Jablonski – Transformers Score -Only mentioned, no lyrics-

Pretty Handsome Awkward by The Used – Transformers Soundtrack

All Good Things by Nelly Furtardo

Times Like These by The Foo Fighters


	10. 10 Psychosomatic Reaction

Disclaimer: Hasbro Takara Dreamworks Owenership. Me Wishful thinking.

A/N: I am so sorry! -grovels- I've just had serious upheaval in my life right now and writing was the furthest thing from my mind for quite a while. Forgive me?

Chapter 9 Psychosomatic Reaction

Caitlyn had the great joy of being a slow waker, her mind would pull itself out of sleep, but her body would take a few more seconds of 'snooze time' and she knew from experience the any attempt to speak would be hilariously distorted by an unresponsive tongue. In this case her leisurely waking process allowed her time for her recent memories to present their mortifying selves to her still dozy brain.

'_Oh shit...OH SHIT! I fainted – __**I **_fainted_. Well that's a good first impression, at least now they won't be able to think of you as any kind of threat'_

Somehow that wasn't much comfort.

She could hear something, someone large and most probably metallic moving quite quietly around. She guessed from the echoes that the room she was in was large, and she could tell that the surface she was laid out on was high – she had had a top bunk in her youth and you tended to recognise the feeling of being up high unless you wanted to hurt yourself getting out of bed.

"So Miss Edens, I see that you have finally gained consciousness."

Caitlyn pulled herself up so she was sitting upright and regretted it. There was a distinct possibly that the place she had fallen was populated by a large colony of rocks that didn't appreciate visits by human backs and shoulders and left bruises as warnings not to come back.

She guessed the room she was in was some sort of medical centre, while the 'beds' were monstrously oversized and much of the equipment looked like the love children of microwave ovens and bicycles with perhaps some genetic tinkering towards clotheslines, the pristine white walls, the complete and utter cleanliness and stoic organisation of everything in the room was familiar. No scientist's lab could be so organised, nothing else could be so ordered. This was definitely the paradise of someone who cared for the sick and injured, this place suggested home to Caitlyn – OH&S to the _letter_.

The Autobot whose domain this obviously was was watching her reactions with amusement.

"I take it you approve of my medbay?"

'_My_ medbay'. There was definite pride in that.

"I guess medical requirements are pretty much universal. I started out in healthcare before I became a researcher. Everywhere I went everyone had their own processes and tips on how to keep places clean and tidy. This sort of set-up is familiar to me."

The bright yellow medic (because there was no doubt in Caitlyn's mind that was what the Autobot talking to her was) settled onto an overlarge chair beside the table-like construction she sat on.

"So you were a medic?" He asked.

She paused, wondering how to word her answer.

"Not a medic as such, not a doctor or nurse. I was a masseuse, but you still have to know how the human body works, it's various systems and their workings and what can cause it to stop working properly. I would never profess to be able to perform surgery or be able to diagnose someone, but I can recognise if something is wrong and in some cases help; if it relates to the muscular system."

"So would you have a diagnosis for why you lost consciousness before? My scans show nothing wrong with you that should have caused that sort of reaction."

He was teasing her, she realised. But she knew the answer anyway.

"I believe the term you're looking for is 'psychosomatic reaction'. In the past week I have found out the research facility I was working for was conducting alien experiments, I broke a confidentiality agreement, I survived an attempted assassination, I was shot, I was kidnapped by the government, I was interrogated, I was told I was going to be put into the custody of the aforementioned aliens and then I get towered over by the biggest fucking kids action figure you have _ever_ seen. Frankly the fact that I didn't have an apoplexy is deserving of praise, fainting is so much easier to deal with don't you think?"

Caitlyn was startled by the sound that came from the medic, until she realised that he was laughing, in fact his mirth so overpowered him that he nearly fell of the chair he was using.

'_This guy ain't too bad; this might just work out – Now if I can just stop freaking out at the sight of...What did he say his name was? Optimus Prime?'_

The medic finally managed to calm down, but his optics were brighter than before and she supposed that was an indication he was still amused – muck like a humans eyes 'twinkling'.

"I think Miss Edens that you might not want to repeat that comment about Prime in front of the others, Bumblebee might find it amusing in time but Ironhide will most definitely _not_."

"I think that if I'm doing to be staying here that we can at least drop to first name basis...uhh, I don't even actually know your name, all I know is Jazz and Optimus Prime"

"Ratchet, but you may hear me referred to as 'The Hatchet', especially if the news about the new arrivals is true." Ratchet looked as miserable as it was possible with a metal face.

"And call me Caitlyn, but you probably knew my name anyway. You mentioned Ironhide and Bumblebee. I'm hazarding a guess that the little, well, little-er one, with the yellow and black paintjob is Bumblebee? So that leaves the big black walking gun store as Ironhide, am I right?"

Ratchet began to laugh again. Caitlyn was beginning to find the noise pleasant, a soft huffing coupled with a sort of synthesised laughing sound. She guessed that if she had any use to the Autobots it would be in a medical area. She hoped so, Ratchet reminded her of her family GP, a grandfatherly man with a wicked sense of humour, but a no-nonsense attitude when it came to medicine. When he calmed down again she asked the question that had just occurred to her as she ran the conversation through her mind.

"You mentioned some 'new arrivals'? Do you expect to have more Autobots land Ratchet?"

"Oh, we don't expect anymore, we know. Prime was contacted just this morning in fact; perhaps that was why his welcome was a bit intimidating, because he was distracted by the news. Usually he is a lot more careful with his interaction with humans." Ratchet clarified.

"Well, I guess I can handle taking second place to news of Autobot arrivals."

Caitlyn really didn't mind, after all what was more exciting? Some new human or meeting friends you hadn't seen in centuries, millennia even?

"So who are the new arrivals? You didn't look overjoyed at the prospect."

Ratchet gave her a searching look.

"You are very good at reading Cybertronian facial expressions. To answer you question the new arrivals will be an invertor named Wheeljack, a set of twins known as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, a sniper called Bluestreak and one of Bumblebee's minibot comrades, an older mech called Gears."

"So what's so horrible about them? Anything I need to worry about, since I'm guessing that you need an extra pair of hands _anyway_ and I'm your best bet?" She had meant the first part in jest but it turned out to be a good question.

"Yes, you will be assisting me and there are some things you should know. Wheeljack, through he is a good friend of mine, has the unfortunate ability to make things explode; not a helpful talent when you deal with dangerous chemicals and machines on a regular basis. Sideswipe is an agreeable mech but his brother is vainglorious and sometimes violent. Bluestreak is what you humans would call 'a sweetheart' but his mouth never stops. Gears is simply a grumpy old mech."

"So we've got a walking disaster zone, an evil twin, a chatterbox and a grumpy old man, nothing I can't handle and we all have our faults, 'cept you of course Ratchet."

Ratchet smiled at that, while inwardly he marvelled at this particular human's ability to get on his good side, not an easy task for most cybertronians.

"You are learning well, my young padawan." He quoted.


	11. 11 Three Sixty

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

A/N: My muse failed me about half way through writing this chapter, sorry everyone. Maybe now I'll get back into regular updates, can only hope.

Tomorrow4eva - I kinda realised that when I got your review so I've altered the plot a little. But I do have a sort of plan involving Caitlyn and Ratchet's relationship (NOT a RatchetXOC, don't worry) but it'll be a while before everything becomes clear.

All Other Reviewrs and Readers - I -heart- you guys so much. Thank you for your time.

Chapter 10 Three Sixty

Caitlyn had been surprised at how well she and Ratchet had gotten along, but they had similar interests and seemingly shared a sense of humour, but it was still a shock how quickly they had become buddy-buddy. Caitlyn wasn't by any stretch of the imagination antisocial but usually it took more than one conversation with someone before she felt so at ease with them.

'_It's strange, I feel as if I could go to him with anything, but I've only known him for a few minutes. Even before we started talking there was this sense of belonging. He seemed to feel the same way and what was that he said about reading cybertronian facial expressions?' _

Now she thought about it, she noticed that Ratchet's expressions had been nothing like a human's equivalent, but she had interpreted them flawlessly.

'_Ok, that's plain weird. Might want to get that checked out.'_

But right now she had more important things to worry about, like not getting melted into a little puddle of protein. Whatever connection she had with Ratchet obviously wasn't in effect with Ironhide.

Bumblebee had been cautious but welcoming, Sam seemed to trust his judgment and acted the same way, Mikaela had been a bit warmer but Ironhide...

'_He's acting like any second I'm going to betray them.'_

Never mind that she had effectively severed all ties with Seen by betraying _them_, that if it wasn't for her they would never have known where Jazz even _was_, and that she was here because of _their_ decision.

Unfortunately Optimus Prime had decided that it would be Ironhide who would explain the house rules to her, which were thus - She was not allowed out of the base without one of the Autobots with her. She was not allowed in the medbay without permission from Ratchet, the training room without permission from Ironhide or Optimus' office without his say-so, she had to clear all contact with anyone outside the base in any way, shape, or form with the Autobots, the Autobots needed to know where she was at all times and practically every minute of her day had to be accounted for.

'_Blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH! This is fricken' ridiculous.'_

She was fine with the Autobots, but being cooped up in the base all day, every day, unable to talk to, do anything or go anywhere she wanted when she wanted was already grating on her nerves. She was an adult for god sake! She hadn't been so controlled since primary school. She was _not_ putting up with this.

It seemed that Ironhide had finished so she decided to air her concerns.

"Ok, I'm fine with most of the rules but some of them border on paranoia. How am I possibly supposed to inform you of every move I make in the day? I might as well just cuff myself to one of you and have done with it."

Ironhide's reply left her blood boiling.

"How you feel is not my concern, you are not in a position of trust and need to be monitored as such. You got yourself into this situation Miss Edens."

"Excuse me? I may be mistaken but it was not my decision to be transferred to the Autobots base!"

"But it was your decision to be involved with Seen."

"Under _false pretences!_ I had not idea what they were doing and the moment I found out I did something about it! That's a hell of a lot more than can be said for most of the people there."

"We are still not convinced of your integrity."

'_Oh this guy is __**asking**__ for it! He's not even going to consider easing up! I haven't done anything wrong and no one, not even a huge-arse robot, is going to tell me otherwise.'_

"Well you know what you can do with your rules? You can go ahead and shove them so far up your rear that you _choke_ on them!"

"Why you little...!"

"Oh hey Caitlyn! I was just looking for you."

Sam's entrance caused both Ironhide and herself to both relax, only slightly, and glance at the teenager. Sam's voice was forcefully bright and it was obvious that he had not had to look for Caitlyn, not with the volume she and Ironhide had been using. Sam continued to babble.

"Ok, look I've already cleared it with Prime but me and 'Bee figured you might want to pick up your stuff, from your apartment right? 'Coz not even guys can survive very long just wearing the same outfit, although we do try, and yeah, like I said it's fine with Prime and Bumblebee and me will be with you – he can probably fit all your stuff except the furniture but we can come back for that and would you mind sharing the furniture with the other humans 'round the base, coz we've only just gotten set up really and we don't have much stuff, but only if you want to, you know?"

Both the cybertronian and the human had to pause as they digested the run-on sentence that Sam had come out with. Caitlyn felt sorry for the boy and frankly, now that she thought about it, clean underwear had become much more important than trying to budge Ironhide.

"Yeah, that's fine Sam I do need some of my stuff from home and its fine for everyone to use the furniture, I'm not too attached to it."

"Cool, 'Bee's waiting for us outside."

She followed Sam through the base and outside the huge doors and stopped dead at the sight before her.

She knew that cybertronians could transform into various mechanical objects with a similar mass and she knew that the Autobots had chosen Earth vehicles to try and blend in, but she hadn't known their exact alternate forms.

There, waiting with a quietly purring engine, was a bright yellow, sporty looking car with black details. She had seen this car before.

'_Ahh, what did you expect? That the Autobots weren't working with the government to flush out Seen? That was some sheer naivety on your part.'_

Caitlyn decided not to grill Sam about it; the boy was obviously already worried about the dynamics between the Autobots and their newest housemate. And as much as she hated it she was going to have to put up and shut up, at least for a while.

'_Just remember, the bathrooms here are private, which is more than you'd get in federal prison.'_

"Nice form." She commented to both Sam and Bumblebee. Sam laughed.

"'Bee wasn't actually this awesome when I met him; he changed alt modes after we met"

A rumble came from the engine and a voice boomed out of the car.

"I was perfectly happy with my prior alt form, but had to change it in order to improve my standing with Mikaela."

Caitlyn looked quizzically at Sam and the boy began to explain, running his hands nervously through his short hair.

"You see, 'Bee used to have a much older Camero form, so he could get himself bought by my dad and me as my first car, he was pretty beat up but the guy still wouldn't let him go for four thousand, so 'Bee blew out every other car's windows with his sound system." Sam smiled at the car, and 'Bee sunk on his shocks a little, seeming embarrassed.

Sam motioned for her to get in the car and the side door popped open obligingly. They got in and 'Bee began to drive.

"Ok, but that still doesn't explain the alt form, Sam."

"Oh, sorry, I'm just getting to that. So after 'Bee saved us from Barricade we were driving through a tunnel and Mikaela asks me "So if he's this, like, 'super advanced robot' why does he drive around as this piece of crap Camero?" So 'Bee slams on the breaks and shoves us out and I'm thinking that she's really pissed him off and there goes four thousand bucks and then he comes back in this form! Greatest day of my life, I swear."

Caitlyn smiled. "I can just imagine, so what kind of car is he now anyway?"

Sam stared at her open mouthed and 'Bee's horn blared in what was possibly shock, if his reaction matched Sam's.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Sorry, guys, I'm not a petrol head - a car enthusiast." She explained.

"'Bee happens to be one of the two thousand and nine Camero concept cars, only a few exist!"

"Yeah, I guess that's pretty cool."

Sam shook his head, obviously stating that Caitlyn wasn't giving the scenario proper reverence. That was fine, she knew that she knew nothing about cars and didn't much care, though she possibly might pick up something now she practically _lived_ with cars.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, she and Sam just chatted, with occasional comments from Bumblebee, either in his own voice or through the radio. The drive was actually shorter than she had expected and Sam explained that the base wasn't that far from Tranquillity.

"So I went all the way from here to Washington and back again? Bit of a waste of time, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Came Sam's reply. "But the government's got some strange ideas about 'protocol'." Sam winced, obviously being one of the few humans to know the Autobots personally put him in tight spots now and again.

They were pulling into Caitlyn's apartment when Sam took the wheel and muttered 'holoform' to Bumblebee and she nearly had a heart attack when a blonde twenty-something male appeared in the backseat.

"Jee-sus! Warn me next time guys!" She yelped.

The 'holoform' that was Bumblebee apologised. Once her heart stopped hammering Caitlyn found she was curious about these 'holoforms'.

"Can you all do that?"

"Yep, when you've been travelling the galaxy for as long as we have you learn that not all species are 'accepting' of you. So we used the holoforms, mostly to blend in, sometimes to hide."

A nasty thought crossed her mind at Bumblebee's answer.

"Can the Decepticons use them too?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Some of them are even quite good at it." Bumblebee said with annoyance.

"Bugger."

There wasn't much else to say about the holoforms so the three exited the car, Caitlyn unlocked the door and they trooped into the living room.

"So what do you have that you want to take back to base?" Asked Bumblebee.

"Hmm, my clothes, toiletries, some other bits and pieces – Ooh, and the three sixty!"

Sam and Bumblebee stopped and looked at her Xbox with sudden wariness.

'_Okay, what is it about my gaming console that is so suspect?'_

"Exactly how long have you had that?" Asked Bumblebee suspiciously.

"God, ummm, couple of years?" She answered

Bumblebee and Sam relaxed, and Caitlyn wondered what the heck was going on.

"So, you gonna explain what _that_ Spanish Inquisition was about?"

They both looked sheepish and Sam explained, coughing a little in embarrassment.

"See, at the Mission city battle, I fell while holding the All Spark and it let out a burst of energy, bringing an SUV, a drinks machine and an Xbox three sixty to life, the SUV and the drink machine went crazy and got caught – we don't know if the Xbox is crazy, but we haven't found it yet."

"So...you have a morbid fear of three sixties?" Caitlyn asked, trying to hold in her laughter.

That was just too much; she collapsed onto the living room couch, laughing hysterically.

Bumblebee and Sam looked at each other. Then Bumblebee spoke.

"At least she's still conscious."


	12. 12 Meet And Greet

Discalimer: NOTHING!

A/N: Uh, hi...Sorry, really, really sorry. Internet trouble, writers block and malfunctioning Spellcheck makes all our live hell. Thank you for not sending hate mail, I know if I was a reader I would be _annoyed_. To make it up to you all I give you...

-Drumroll-

Huge chapter! With added Autobot! And yet another apology, sorry.

Chapter 11 Meet and Greet

Caitlyn was with Ratchet in the medbay, where she always was when Ratchet wasn't busy and when he was she hung out with Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee or just stayed in her room.

'_Bethesda softworks I LOVE you people. If it wasn't for 'Oblivion' and its endless hours of gameplay I would be mental by now.'_

Ratchet was taking her through the basic tools and procedures for cybertronian first aid and nursing, he wasn't pushing her to fast; probably not wanting to overwhelm her suddenly and he had explained that Wheeljack would be competent to help him when he arrived. She would probably never be an 'official' Autobot medic but and auxiliary if the need arose. That was fine with her.

'_Knowing how to fix just __**one**__ species is enough and with Seen and some of the Decepticons still out there it's a possibility I might be needed by humans more than Autobots.'_

Also much of his time was now taken up with Jazz, fixing his frame and monitoring his Spark, he also managed to integrate some of his work with Caitlyn's training, although he mentioned that she would probably never be involved in such a delicate and tricky procedure.

Ratchet was explaining what a 'Spark Monitor' was and how to use it when he paused, optics dimming slightly. Caitlyn recognised the signs of a communication, over a private, semi-private or open channel and wondered who was contacting the CMO.

So she was surprised when Ratchet gave a groan and began to bang his head against one of the medbay's 'berths'.

"Uh, Ratchet, are you short circuiting or something?" She quizzed.

The medic gave one last good 'thump' with his head and rested it on the berth.

"No, but I believe that situation will soon occur. Orns of peace and serenity, shattered. If I ever find out who sparked those...those...slaggers! Yes, slaggers, I will deactivate them." Ratchet seemed to be in his own world as he went on.

"Ratchet, what the heck is going on? What are you talking about?"

He looked at the human, seemingly having forgotten she was there.

"I apologise Caitlyn, sometimes I forget that humans cannot hear our communications. Prime had just informed me that our newest Autobot comrades will soon make landfall, which means the twins will be here, therefore resulting in, if not my deactivation, then a severe CPU crash."

Ahh, now she remembered. The twins – Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were in the group about to land and were apparently the bane of Ratchet's existence.

"It'll be Ok, Ratchet. It can't really be all that bad." Caitlyn soothed, patting the medic's lower leg, the only part she could reach.

"It can be - it really can. Once, back on Cybertron, Sideswipe ended up in the medbay with over ninety five percent of his armour plating melted through to his circuitry after a blast from Shockwave and Sunstreaker had both arms and one leg completely torn off, courtesy of Blitzwing, with his other leg attached by only a few wires. And there have been many more such incidents throughout the war, they seem to have no concern for themselves, or the poor medic who gets to go without recharge trying to put them back together."

"All right, maybe it can be that bad. But hey, how much trouble can they get into on Earth with Megatron gone and only a few Decepticons left?"

"Much. We have to get going, Prime wants you to ride with Bumblebee and Sam, I might need to transport any injured back to base."

--

Caitlyn wasn't sure how she felt about more Autobots being on Earth. Sure the _idea_ of meeting aliens had been the stuff of wondrous dreams for her since she was a child. The thought of something _new_ and _exciting_ in the form of other sentients had thrilled her.

'_Except it's not quite so thrilling the way it's worked out. Ironhide __**really**__ doesn't trust you and even if the others won't admit it they still watch you, trying to figure out your loyalties.'_

And she didn't know how to fix it, what she could do or not do to gain their trust. She felt isolated, Sam was the saviour who had defeated their greatest enemy and saved their leader from a self-sacrificing suicide. Mikaela was the cavalry who had shown up to help when it had seemed that nothing could be saved or salvaged from the fight.

But still she didn't want to leave; she wanted to be there to help Ratchet, to see Jazz reactivated. 'Bee was a darling, even if he had taste in music like her _mothers_ and Sam was a riot to be around. Mikaela reminded her of the friends she had had when she was that age -feisty, outrageous fun-lovers.

It probably didn't help that she ostracised herself, partially subconsciously. Caitlyn sighed and shook her head, pushing the thoughts away. She just had to be patient, it wasn't only her feelings that affected this situation and she had to respect that.

It was still hard though.

She came out of the hanger and Sam pulled himself away from the sun-warmed metal of the wall to join her.

"Hey Caitlyn, uh, do you mind going in the backseat this time?" He asked.

'_This boy really needs to learn to concept of the __double entendre.'_

"Ok, may I ask why?" She asked, drawing out the first syllable, hoping he'd catch on.

Sam flushed as he realised what he had said.

"It's silly, but I have this thing about letting the Autobots have the drivers seat. Really weird, don't ask how we came up with it." Sam explained with a small, 'Yeah, I know it's crazy' smile.

And that was another thing she missed, something she wanted to be a part of – the inside jokes, the silly stories that only made sense if you were there.

"It's ok Sam, besides, the backseat's more roomy. I don't mind." Cailtyn reassured.

"Cool, we should get going."

Cailtyn didn't miss the smile Sam had on his face as they approached 'Bee who was obligingly folding into his alt form. There was something to be proud of about the human race, Sam and 'Bee had risked their lives for each other, what was between them went far past friendship and was just short of kinship. She often found it so strange how people could be capable of such cruelty as well as such loyalty – and somethimes with the same individual involved!

'_We really are mad as a species.'_

The two humans climbed into the brilliant yellow car and 'Bee took off for their destination. Optimus and Ironhide had gone ahead by a few minuted, just in case. Ratchet has also gone ahead to pick up Mikaela, whose mechanical expertise might come in handy and he would arrive at about the same time they did.

Sam and 'Bee chatted, 'Bee racing through the desert and showing off _just _a_ little _bit. Caitlyn couldn't bring herslef to contribute to the conversation, even 'Bee's crazy driving wasn't lifting her spirits much. Eventually though the mech and the boy noticed their companions silence.

"Something wrong?" Asked Sam, breif but still concerned.

"Nothings really wrong, I just feel…Alone, a bit flat." Caitlyn sighed.

Sam nodded.

"Yeah, we kinda noticed. I guess I can understand where you're coming from, feeling left out. And no one really feels that good when they've got Ironhide rindin' their ass."

_That_ made her laugh. At least some people understood, or at least sympathised with her predicament. And, frankly, it was reasurring that someone else thought Ironhide was taking it a bit too far. 'Bee added his kind words in typical 'Bee fashion.

_**It just takes some time…Little girl you're in the middle…Of the ride…  
**_

_**Everything, everything will be just fine….Everything, everything will be all right, all right…**_

"You're good friends, you know? I dunno what I'd do without you two, Ratchet and Mikaela." Caitlyn admitted.

"Aww, don't go all mushy on us. Jeeze…Girls." Sam said, laughing as he dodged Caitlyn's half-hearted slap, 'Bee laughing at the human's antics.

The rest of the ride was spent in a more companionable silence that it had started, Sam, being up front, was the first to notice the five slowly moving lights in the sky.

"There they are." Remarked 'Bee unnecessarily; as Sam pointed them out to Caitlyn.

"How far away do you think they are? Will it take much longer for them to land?" Caitlyn asked the Autobot.

"We are only a few minutes from the designated meeting place, it should only take Wheeljack, the twins, Bluestreak and Gears another five or so minutes to land" Came 'Bee's answer.

Soon Prime and Ironhide came into sight and 'Bee pulled beside them. Caitlyn and Sam climbed out and 'Bee unfolded into his mech form alongside his commander and the weapons specialist. Less than a minute passed before Ratchet and Mikaela showed up.

Sam and Mikaela greeted each other, even though the 'hellos' were a bit stilted. Caitlyn was happy to see her, especially when she heard Mikaela's news.

"I'm going to be staying at the base for a while." Mikaela said.

"Great! Thank you providence! Even if the Autobots don't _have_ hormones I'll swear I was getting a testosterone overdose. I'll be so happy to have another chick there" Caitlyn enthused.

Mikaela smiled and Sam denied that there could ever be such a thing as 'too much testosterone'. Then Primes voice rumbled out.

"Our comrades are about to make landfall, I suggest that you three stick close to us, there may be some debris from the landings."

The three humans made their way over to the Autobots, watching as the not-really-meteors began to burn as they fell through the atmosphere. It was an amazing sight, even if you thought they were just meteors.

"At least these landings are a bit more inconspicuous this time around" Mentioned Mikaela, smiling at Sam.

"Yeah, hopefully people won't think its Armageddon this time." Sam joked.

'_What?'_

"Do I even want to know?" Caitlyn asked.

"Well, Optimus and Jazz managed to be inconspicuous, but Ratchet landed right in the middle of town, and Ironhide landed in someone's pool – messed it up pretty bad too. There was this whole thing on the News about dangerous meteors and a rumour went round that 'War of the Worlds' was actually a premonition of things to come." Mikaela said, obviously trying not to laugh.

Sam was also trying to contain his amusement, but wasn't doing such a good job.

"Isn't it ironic, that truth really _is_ stranger than fiction?" Quipped Caitlyn, glancing at their gigantic companions.

The Autobots were close, their pods hurtling toward the ground in a wash of flame. They all, humans and Autobots, braced themselves just before the five Autobots hit the ground.

The noise was _amazing_, so loud that eventually overwhealmed the senses and rocks and sand flew forward. The Autobots leaned over the humans untill the storm ended. The Autobots stepped forward, Prime in front, with Ironhide and Ratchet just behind him and Caitlyn, Mikaela and Sam stepped back, waiting for the new arrivals to get their bearings before they inroduced themselves.

The pods began to unfold and Cailtyn was intrigued by how similar the nise was to that of the other Autobots transformation sequence.

'_Of course it will sound similar – It's still a transformation isn't it? Sometimes you surprise yourself with the stupid thoughts you have.'_

In a matter of seconds five more Autobots joined the four. They were easy to tell apart, the newcomers were all uniformly silver, and much more spindly and delicate looking. Also they were all talking with Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet and Bumblebee in Cybertronian, a noise that was strangly familiar to Caitlyn, although she was sure she had never heard anything that sounded like _this_.

'_If you somehow combined a Budgerigar with a synthesizerand and set it in the deep bass range you would be getting close.' _

The reunion seemd to be over and Prime waved the humans forward to meet the new arrivals. Sam and Mikaela looked at each other. Mikaela got the words out first.

"You go first, Sam."

"No way! You're the brave one – you go first!" Retorted Sam.

"Hah, _I'm _not the savior of humans and Autobots, you do the honours." Argured Mikaela.

"No!"

'_Oh ye Gods, we'll be here for hours. Now where is that pressure point?Ah, there.'_

Caitlyn _gently _jammed the second knuckle of her index fingers into the pressure points in Sam and Mikaela's lower backs, then leaned her head between the suddenly quiet teens.

"How about we all go _together_?" She asked brightly, exerting pressure through her hands and pushing them forward. The two complied. As they approached the Autobots she was _sure_ Optimus was grinning.

Up close the new members were a bit eaisier to distinguish, one was quite a bit shorter than the others.

'_Probably Gears, didn't Ratchet say something about 'minibots?''_

The next three were a little harder, but two of them shared remarkable similarity and Caitlyn would bet that they were the twins. The two left she wasn't sure about, one was tall with fairly long legs, the other stokier with two odd looking protruberences on either side of his head. Either of the could have been Bluestreak or Wheeljack.

The latter pratically _leapt _forward to meet the humans, beeping and twittering in their odd language. Caitlyn felt the slight ghost of an almost-sensation that she recognised as a scan, having recieved a few courtesy of Ratchet.The startled look on Sam and Mikaela's faces confirmed that the strange mech was scanning them as well. She heard Ratchet huff and the medic moved forward to cuff the scanning mech on the shoulder, who made a whinning noise of complaint. Ratchet replied with a few curt sentances of their language. The three humans looked at eachother and Caitlyn just shrugged.

"There's not exactly a book of etiquet on this sort of situation is there?"

"I apologise." Ratchet said, pointedly glaring at the mech. "Wheeljack never did have much of a sense of social decorum, or any plain _sense_ either."

The other mechs made the huffing noise that was the sound of their laughter and Ratchet whipped round to glare at the twins.

"Don't you two glitches laugh! You're worse than he is!"

"All right, enough Ratchet, please contain yourself until we get back to base." Soothed Prime.

"And maybe we can finally introduce Sam, Mikaela and Caitlyn to the others?" Asked 'Bee with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Yes, of course, please forgive me, Sam, Mikaela and Caitlyn." Apologised Prime.

Introductions were made, Gears seemed a little bit floored by the experience, Caitlyn was _sure_ the twins were laughing at them and Ratchet's glares at the two didn't dissuade her from the opinion, Bluestreak seemed hesitant but she couldn't think why, well it was more that she couldn't decide which theory to go with.

And Wheeljack...Wheeljack was _ecstatic_, although about what none of the humans knew because the new arrivals could not yet speak English. But he was definitely happy and excited, especially about the humans. It was actually beginning to creep Caitlyn out a bit.

'_It's like...a giant, metal puppy dog, all eyes and paws and happy-crazy.'_

The mere thought was hilarious, especially when the image of a Cybertronian-like puppy with Wheeljack's features popped into her mind. Mikaela and Sam looked at her as she tried to stifle her mirth.

"Don't ask; you really don't want to know." She cautioned the two.

After a bit more meeting and greeting Prime announced that they should be heading back to base.

"Hopefully Gears, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Bluestreak will remain undetected until we get back to base and can find them appropriate alternate forms." Prime stated.

"But since the new five had only their protoforms and no alternate forms they we will all be walking back to base." Ratchet said.

'_Give thanks_ _that we're in the middle of nowhere here.'_

"But Sam, Mikaela and Caitlyn won't be able to keep up with us!" Exclaimed 'Bee.

"If you guys don't mind carrying us then I don't think it'll be a problem 'Bee" Answered Sam sensibly.

"Oh, yeah" Said 'Bee, sounding relived.

'Bee took Sam and Ratchet offered his hand to Mikaela, leaving Caitlyn with a slight conundrum. Ironhide would _definitely_ not like carrying her back to base, nor was she herself taken with the idea and she didn't want to impose on the new Autobots and Prime...Well Prime was bloody huge, the mere thought of being up that high made her stomach queasy.

Thankfully Wheeljack saved the day, asking if he could carry her and after promising Ratchet that he would be careful and remember how delicate organics were he offered Caitlyn his hand to step into.

--

Music Is...

_The Middle_ By Jimmy Eat World


	13. 13 The Awakening

Chapter Twelve

Disclaimer: Must I repeat myself? You know I don't own.

A/N: Whoohoo! Plot! Yeah, I know some of my last offerings seemed to be going nowhere but I do actually have a plan here. Jazz Man is back! Now we're cooking with fire. And for those of you who will get a sneaking suspicion - yeah, there's gonna be Jazz/Caitlyn - but before you refuse to read further I just want to assure you it won't last, and here's some reassurance - The ProwlXJazz fans converted me.

Chapter Twelve The Awakening

The new Autobots made it back to base with no problems; they were fluent in several Earth languages after a matter of hours and finally stopped using Cybertronian when in Sam, Mikaela and Caitlyn's company. This _could_ have been considered progress if it wasn't for the new problems that developed.

Ratchet had not exaggerated the traits of his new comrades one little bit. Gears and Sunstreaker seemed convinced that Earth would be the death of them, loudly proclaiming to all and sundry how much they despised 'the underdeveloped, messy, organic mud ball' they had come to. This did not endear them to Caitlyn one little bit; Earth might not have been perfect but it was her planet. And Gears and Sunstreaker had been there not even one day and they were insulting it! Sam, Mikaela and even Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ratchet and Prime seemed royally annoyed with the two's comments as well. Thankfully Sunstreaker's twin was much more bearable, even likeable.

Wheeljack was much more sociable, a genuinely friendly and optimistic person, however he seemed to have the unfortunate gift of creating complete and utter chaos and disaster wherever he went. And in an amazingly short amount of time, with very little tools to hand too. Sam had thought nothing of letting the new Autobot examine the bases T.V set whilst showing him around and thankfully Sam had left the room for a few seconds when Wheeljack's mere minutes of tinkering produced an explosion.

Ratchet was _hacked_. It was the only word Caitlyn could think of to describe the medics' ire. Wheeljack received a lengthy talking to and a ban on any and all experimenting until a safe (and explosion proof) laboratory could be constructed. Sam learnt a valuable lesson about putting the words 'Wheeljack' and 'Tinker' in the same sentence without the proper safety regulations in place. Caitlyn and Mikaela learnt from Sam's mistake, so all became well on that front.

Bluestreak was quiet, until you _started_ him talking, then he wouldn't _stop_. It did get annoying, after the first half hour, but Caitlyn just couldn't bring herself to do or say anything that might hurt his feelings. Something about him projected naivety and fragility, qualities that even Bumblebee as the youngest didn't posses. Caitlyn resolved to have a talk with Ratchet about Bluestreak, there was something there, she didn't want to pry but she would feel better for knowing what, even if it wasn't exact.

The biggest problem, however, was Jazz; well, more specifically Jazz's condition. Prime had _hoped_ to break it to the new arrivals gently, but Bluestreak had known that Jazz should have been with Prime's group on Earth and had already become worried when Jazz wasn't at the landing. His questioning brought it all out, and while there was a moment of celebration when Megatron's defeat was described the mood sobered when Bluestreak asked the eventual question.

"What about Jazz? Why isn't he here, is he in the Medbay injured Ratchet?"

Silence filled the room and it was left to Prime to inform his newly arrived troops about what had happened to Jazz. Then Caitlyn's story had to be explained, and it would suffice to say that three fifths of the new Autobots weren't too happy with her. Bluestreak's emotions on the subject were hard for her to decipher, but his grief for Jazz made her feel terrible anyway. Ratchet seemed to decide that this was a good time to announce his good news – That Jazz would most likely be ready for reactivation within a few days, providing he was _not_ disturbed for **anything**, the comment going hand in hand with a stern glare at the twins and Wheeljack. The mood didn't exactly lighten but everyone seemed to feel better for the news.

--

Today was the day and the tension in the base was palatable, Ratchet had become a maniac and not even Prime was immune, absolutely _anyone_ who got too close to the medbay ended up practising their missile evasion skills. Caitlyn could almost swear she could taste the apprehension in the air, coppery like blood from a bitten lip. She couldn't seem to decide between hovering near the Medbay and risking Ratchets wrath and trying to be as far away as possible. The stress was nearly unbearable.

'_Not even the Seen raid was this bad, I feel so twisted up inside, like if I move suddenly I'll snap.'_

The others were also agitated, but she, Ratchet and Bluestreak seemed most affected by it, which made sense. She had had that talk with Ratchet about Bluestreak and while he gave away no details and she didn't ask for them the brief overview helped her to understand the fragile mentals state Bluestreak existed in. The very young only survivor of the Decepticon attack on his small hometown still felt guilt that he had survived when no one else had, even though the circumstance was only through pure luck. Jazz had taken Bluestreak under his wing and had become like family to the younger mech. Bluestreak did not make friends or give trust easily, so to lose one of those precious few he had was shattering.

Caitlyn finally settled in the recreation room on one of the couches with her i-Pod, trying to relax.

_**Shame, such a shame...Think I kinda lost myself again...**_

_**Day, yesterday...Really should be leaving but I stay...**_

_**Say, say my name...I need a little love to ease the pain...Need a little love to ease the pain...It's easy to remember when it came...**_

_**Coz it feels like I've been, I've been here before...You're not my saviour but I still don't go...**_

_**Feels like something that I've done before...I could fake it but I still want more...**_

She hit 'Forward', that song was usually enough to get her to relax somewhat, she couldn't count the number of times it had led her to finally sleep, but today it just made her irritable. She desperately hoped that she could find something, anything, to help her ease up.

_**Zephyr in the sky at night...I wonder, do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun...**_

Finally! She felt her body let go, and her mind began to idly play with the thoughts and images the song evoked.

_**She's got herself a universe gone quickly...For the call of thunder threatens everyone...**_

'_Why does thunder threaten everyone? Thunder is just air, maybe because thunder usually means lightning and rain and those can be dangerous.'_

_**And I feel, like I just got home and I feel... And I feel, like I just got home and I feel...**_

'_I wonder when this will begin to feel like home, it's beginning to – somehow I don't feel so alone with more people here.'_

_**And I feel, like I just got home and I feel... And I feel, like I just got home and I feel...**_

_**Quicker than a ray of light...**_

_**Quicker than a ray of light...**_

_**Quicker than a ray of light...**_

_**Quicker than a ray of light...**_

**The image of a speeding light, flying across a background of stars, coming towards another, much smaller light that seemed to be straining to reach the other.**

_**And I feel...**_

**The lights finally met and curled around each other, but the smaller began to flicker and fall, spiralling down, toward a great well of light, leaving the first alone.**

_**Quicker than a ray of light...Then gone for...Someone else shall be there...Through the endless years...**_

**But not for long, another light was coming. This light was stronger than the other and when the two met they didn't just curl around each other, the two lights became one.**

_**And I feel...**_

_**And I feel...**_

_**And I feel...Like I just got home...And I feel...**_

"Caitlyn?" She heard a deep voice.

She jerked upright. Optimus was looking down at her gravely. She pulled the earphones out and began to wrap up the i-Pod.

'_Geeze, I was almost sleeping. Maybe I was asleep, what was **that** about?'_

"Yeah, sorry, I was miles away. Is something wrong?" She answered.

"Ratchet had informed me that it's time, he says it will be best if we are there when Jazz reactivates."

"Ok, I would have thought he'd prefer no one to be there, though." Caitlyn mused.

"I believe he thinks that Jazz will reactivate at his last memory and will need to be assured that it isn't reality." Optimus explained as they began to walk to the Medbay.

That made sense, and Jazz would not exactly be awakening at a good memory.

'_Out numbered, fighting for his life, and being torn in half by Megatron. I'd freak out too, I'd be beyond hysterical.'_

She hoped the Autobots would be able to make him realise he wasn't in any danger anymore, panic could make people do almost anything and she didn't want anyone to be injured or for Jazz to get into trouble.

_He's a big boy, Caitlyn. You don't become a third in command or a saboteur by having a delicate psyche. Possibly something weirder than this has happened to him before.'_

But what she couldn't think.

They reached the Medbay; Ratchet was beside the berth where Jazz lay with Bluestreak hovering on the other side, Optimus made his way to stand beside him and Caitlyn moved forward to where Sam and Mikaela stood at the front, a few feet away from the berth, giving Ratchet room to work. The room was completely silent as Ratchet began to hook Jazz up to an energizer that would give Jazz the 'jump start' he needed to reactivate.

Time froze as the medic flicked the switch.

The machine gave a harsh hum and Caitlyn found herself counting her heartbeats.

'_One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.' _

Jazz sat up and _shrieked_. Mikaela grabbed her arm unexpectedly and Caitlyn nearly screamed herself, Ratchet, Optimus and Bluestreak had grabbed Jazz's arms and were trying to get the mech to calm down.

"Jazz! Get a hold of yourself!" Yelled the medic.

"It's all right, you're safe now." Soothed Prime.

But Bluestreak was the one to get through.

"Jazz! Jazz, it's me, it's Blue. Jazz please calm down, it's Ok." He pleaded

Jazz relaxed and laid back down to let Ratchet check him over.

"Blue Boy, what're you doin' here, thought you were with Gears crew checkin' Th' Alerion sector." Jazz queried, looking confused.

"Do you know where you are Jazz?" Asked Ratchet who was still checking him over.

"Yeah, din't we get that signal from 'Bee that he'd found the All Spark an'..." Jazz stopped suddenly and Caitlyn knew that he'd remembered what had happened to him and was realising that there was a big difference between that memory and here and now.

"Yes, you remember correctly Jazz; after everyone has had a chance to greet you I will explain everything." Prime reassured him.

"And they'd better be quick about it and no getting him too excited." Ratchet grumbled, giving the twins a pointed stare.

Caitlyn decided to slip out quietly, 'Bee followed her out to the hall.

"Are you Ok?" The scout asked. He looked concerned and that made Caitlyn feel a little better.

"Yeah, it's fine 'Bee. I just think it might be better if I let Prime explain everything that's gone on to Jazz before I meet him, that way it's his decision and if he doesn't feel comfortable then no one's pushing him." She explained.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." 'Bee said. He still looked worried.

"It really is fine 'Bee, go say hi, I know you missed him." Caitlyn encouraged, waving the mech back into the medbay.

She went back to the recreation room and settled on her couch with her music again.

_**Heard you today...That isn't my name...You were fast asleep...Forget what he did...And I'll be the kid for your soul to keep...**_

_**Some of us laugh...Some of us cry...Some of us smoke...Some of us lie...**_

_**But it's all just the way that we cope with our lives... **_

After about an hour Caitlyn felt eyes on her and knew it was Jazz. If he wanted to talk to her it was up to him. She waited.

_**Its only an imaginary vigil that we keep...You salvage what you need...I'll take the love you leave... **_

_**I love your way...I can't explain...What made me change...**_

Jazz seemed to be thinking, and after a while he seemed to come to a decision, his head leaned to the side. After a few moments his optics caught her eyes and he gave her a small nod and walked off.

'_Well, that's good. Wait! It's not – he just put the ball back in my court!'_

She couldn't help but laugh, typical male, wanting the girl to do all the relationship work.

"I think he likes your music. But then again Jazz likes almost _any_ music." 'Bee commented from the doorway.

"Well, you can tell a lot about a person from the music they listen to, hopefully it tells him something good about me." Caitlyn replied.

'Bee shook his head.

"Jazz knows better than almost anyone that not everything is a simple as it seems." 'Bee stated.

--

Caitlyn was fast asleep until the noise woke her.

Screaming and indecipherable yelling echoed up the hall, no one else seemed to have noticed yet, but she was usually a light sleeper anyway.

She got out of her bed and pulled on a dressing gown and slippers and slipped out of her room, she was almost certain she knew what was going on. A short walk up the hall proved it.

Jazz. She hit the door sensor, hoping he hadn't locked it, luck was with her. The mech was writhing on his berth, how would she be able to wake him without getting hurt in the process? Caitlyn settled for calling his name a few times and finally he woke. The saboteurs head whipped around to focus on her, looking for the source of the voice.

"You Ok?" She asked, not wanting to intrude any further.

Jazz didn't reply for a while and she began to leave. His voice stopped her.

"No, I'm not Ok. Do you want to stay?" He asked bluntly.

'_I think that's about as close to 'don't go' as we're gonna get.'_

"I'll be back in a moment, hold tight."

She rushed back to her room, grabbing a blanket, a pillow and her i-Pod. As much as he didn't show it she had the feeling that Jazz needed somebody, no matter who, tonight. After what he'd been through she couldn't leave him alone to sleep. Ratchet had told her that Cybertronian sleep was radically different from humans; trauma and nightmares could be physically and mentally dangerous without supervision. She went back to Jazz's room and settled on the floor.

_**Oh, sinking like stones...All that we fought for...All these places we've gone...All of us are done for...**_

Jazz voice startled her a few minutes later.

"It's probably not very comfortable on the floor." He stated.

'_Right...And?'_

"It's fine, not too bad." She replied. What on Earth was he getting at?

"It's just, might be more comfortable if you slept up here. It'll get pretty cold during the night, see. And my spark can keep us both warm" Jazz explained.

"Are you sure? What if you roll over? Or have another nightmare? I don't really want to be crushed." She said.

He laughed softly.

"I don't move in my recharge and with someone here I won't have another 'nightmare', come on." He leaned out of the berth and held his hand out to her; she gathered her stuff up and settled on Jazz's chest plates.

'_This is going on the weird list. I'm camping out on a giant robots alien's chest so I don't freeze and he doesn't have a nightmare.'_

It was, however, warm as Jazz had promised her, she put her earphones back in and went to settle down. Again, maybe this time she could sleep.

"Hey Caitlyn?" Nup, no dice.

"Yes Jazz?" She answered.

"Do ya mind if I listen to your music thingy? I can just jack in." He explained

"Sure Jazz." She didn't mind and anyway she was willing to do pretty much anything to get to sleep at this point.

A whirr and a click and that was it. She pulled the blanket around herself more snugly.

_**Breathe in, breathe out...Tell me all of your doubts...Everybody bleeds this way... just the same...Breathe in, breathe out...More on and break down...If everyone goes away...I will stay...**_

_**We push and pull...And I fall down sometimes...But I'm not letting go...You hold the other line...**_

_**Coz there is a light...In your eyes...In your eyes... **_

_**Hold on, hold tight...From out of your sight...everything keeps moving on...Moving on...Hold on, hold tight...Make it through another night...Everyday there comes a song with the dawn...**_

_**Coz there is a light...In your eyes...In your eyes... **_

_**Coz there is a light...In your eyes...In your eyes... **_

**_--_**

Music is...

_Dissolved Girl_ by Massive Attack

_Ray of Light _by Madonna

_Some of Us _by Starsailor

_Love Your Way _by Powderfinger

_Don't Panic/Beautiful World_ by Coldplay

_Breathe In, Breathe Out _by Mat Kearney


	14. 14 Much Ado

Disclaimer: As if anyone still reads this - I do not own.

A/N: Quite a lot of first's for me in this chapter, I would love any feedback you may have. Do enjoy.

Chapter Thirteen

Caitlyn was more than a little surprised to find that she was awake before Jazz, but Ratchet had told him to rest and there wasn't any reason for the mech to not sleep in.

She stretched and rolled her neck, feeling and in some cases hearing the nights kinks ease.

'_People can get so touchy about that, but it's only fluid and air moving around mostly.'_

She heard the door mere moments before it opened, and she wasn't particularly surprised to see Bluestreak at the door, Bluestreak however, _was_ surprised to see her perched on Jazz's chest plates.

"He had a nightmare and asked me to stay." Caitlyn explained, not wanting Bluestreak to wake Jazz up.

"Oh...Ok. Is he awake?" Bluestreak asked.

"Still out, I'm not sure how long he intends to sleep for." She replied.

An odd, awkward silence prevailed as they both strived for something to say to fill it. The silence was not so much filled as shattered when the 'William Tell Overture' suddenly blasted from the base's speaker system. Jazz shot up so suddenly that Caitlyn had no warning, one moment she was sitting and the next she was being propelled through the air, she barely had time to register complete and utter shock and then fear before Bluestreak grabbed her.

"Thanks." She said breathlessly, her heart hammering against her ribs.

"What?" Bluestreak yelled above the noise.

"I said thanks!" She yelled back.

"What the slag is goin' on!" Jazz, now quite awake, asked.

"I think that Sideswipe discovered the base's com system." Bluestreak answered.

"That, and classical Earth music." Caitlyn added.

--

Caitlyn had been wondering why it was that Ratchet disliked _both_ the twins, Sunstreaker she understood, he was the singularly most unsociable, conceited and ill tempered person she had ever met. Now she understood Sideswipe's failings. The mech was a unrelenting prankster. Not only had he rewired the bases com system, he had also rearranged the med bay and set up no less than _five_ door traps, two dumped water on whoever opened the door, another glue, a third water based paint and the last triggered a hologram of Megatron.

It was quite a pity that Sam had been the one to trigger _that _door. The poor boy was understandably terrified by the appearance of the former Decepticon leader and it triggered a mild panic attack.

Luckily Optimus had managed to fix the bases com system and Caitlyn was called to the med bay to deal with the hyperventilating Sam. He was shaking and clinging to 'Bee's hand when she got there and it took her quite a while to convince him to put Sam down so she could help.

"Bumblebee, I can't do anything if Sam is ten feet off the ground, you can still stay but I need you to put him down!"

The yellow mech finally relented but kept one gentle finger curled around his charges shoulders. Caitlyn turned her attention to Sam.

"Hey Sam, it's Ok. Megatron is not here, there is no way he could be here without our noticing, right? He's not exactly one for sneaking around, and it'd look pretty funny if he tried wouldn't it?" She asked, hoping the humour would bring Sam out of his terror.

"Ye-yeah, it would." Sam answered shakily, smiling weakly.

"Ok, now take a deep breath, just like that, and hold it. One. Two. Three. Four. And now let it out, that's it, keep going like that." Caitlyn encouraged.

After a few minutes Sam was breathing properly again and had stopped shaking. Caitlyn decided to go and find Sideswipe. A few little pranks were fine but he had really frightened Sam and she was going to five him a piece of her mind. She followed the yelling to Prime's office. She hit the door chime and walked in.

"Hey!" Ironhide snarled when he saw her, but Caitlyn had been working up into a towering rage and simply ignored the weapons specialist, marching right up to Sideswipe.

"Do you have _any_ idea of the emotional distress you caused Sam? He's been through enough without people playing ridiculous pranks that even a _four year old_ wouldn't find funny. What kind of a moron are you, did you even consider that a hologram of _Megatron_ would cause complete and utter panic? What if Ironhide or Prime had triggered that door and shot without thinking? What if someone was hurt or killed? Do you want that on your conscious, you **idiotic piece of pig-iron!**" The last was screamed as Caitlyn lost the last shred of her temper, she barely registered the shock on Prime, Ironhide and Sideswipe's faces as she stormed out of the office.

'_Oww, all that's given me a tension headache, what the heck was he thinking? Uhh, I think I'd better go lay down before I explode at someone who doesn't deserve it.'_

--

The next day, when everything had calmed down and Sideswipe had finished his punishment of assisting Ratchet to reorganise the med bay, it was decided that now was as good a time as any for the newly arrived Autobots to choose their Alt modes. Sam and Mikaela were on hand to help with the more technical aspects, Caitlyn was just there to say 'that looks nice.'

Gears went for simple – just a Ford F-250 done in blue and red - a choice that much amused the others especially when Prime refused to comment. However the choice only occurred after Gears spent _half an hour_ complaining. Earth had too many Alt forms to choose from, Earth didn't have enough, he didn't like the design of Earth transportation, that position would make his axle ache. Caitlyn was beginning to regret staying, and she was sure she wasn't the only one.

Bluestreak's indecision was almost painful to even watch, but with Jazz and the twins' encouragement he finally settled on a Nissan 300Z32 with a grey and red colour scheme.

The twins had fallen in absolute love with Lamborghinis. The only problem being that neither could decide on _which _Lambo model to pick, and when Sunstreaker and Sideswipe disagreed things, and people, got broken. And then Ironhide or Bumblebee would yell about what had gotten broken, and Ratchet would yell about who had gotten broken. And then Sam, who was only trying to bring some peace for them all, suggested that maybe the twins could have _different _Alt modes.

Proverbial hit the fan, Sunstreaker nearly hit Sam and the sight of Bumblebee engaging Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both at the same time in an utter brawl quickly became number one on Caitlyn's list of 'Utterly Terrifying Things I Never Want to See Again' then that quickly got bumped down to number two when Ratchet made his presence known. She wasn't sure on the details of what happened after that, but the twins decided on the Murciélago, Sunstreaker in yellow and Sideswipe in red.

And if she thought that Wheeljack, who was so far winning the 'New Autobots Popularity Contest', name courtesy of Mikaela, was going to make it easy she was sadly and frustratingly wrong. It wasn't that he couldn't choose, which had been the major problem with the others, he knew what he wanted, down to the colour. The Lancia Stratos, a re-imagined concept car by a British company called 'Fenomenon'. The problem was that Prime had learnt that concept cars, such as Bumblebee's Camero Alt mode, caused a stir and a stir was not what the Autobots wanted to create, nor was it what the American government wanted either.

Wheeljack _sulked_. And it was a pitiful sight, even without the fact that Wheeljack had discovered Earth's reactive substances and decided to play with them outside, where it was 'relatively' safe. The humans learnt that a sulking Wheeljack was also a distracted Wheeljack. And Wheeljack plus explosive stuff plus distracted equalled 'Kaboom!' So Wheeljack got his way, with a stern warning from Ratchet that if he blew their cover unnatural things would happen to his components while he recharged.

After that things finally became bearable, as long as you could spot a 'Gear's Rant' coming and find a somewhere to run away to.

Jazz had come in for a check up and Mikaela and Caitlyn had been banished from the med bay, leaving the two with nothing much to do.

"I think that perhaps Ratchet might benefit from some anger management classes." Caitlyn carefully stated as they walked down the hall to the rec room.

"I think that would only work if his therapist was indestructible." Mikaela replied.

"You're right. Maybe a Kevlar punching bag instead?" Caitlyn suggested.

"With the twins heads painted on it?" Mikaela asked, getting into the spirit of the game.

"Yeah. Oh, I know! A dartboard, but instead of darts he can throw his tools at it." Caitlyn laughed.

Ratchet's favourite method of non-verbally expressing his anger was throwing his more sturdy tools at the object of his wrath, and his aim was _good_.

They were still laughing as they walked into the recreation room, Mikaela moved off at Sam and 'Bee's inquiring looks, who no doubt wanted to know the joke. Caitlyn didn't feel much like joining them, what she felt like was getting out but for her such a mundane task required a bit more effort. She scanned the room. Wheeljack wasn't there, which meant that he was in his 'lab' (A cordoned off area outside the base) and probably engrossed in something or other so he was out of the running. The twins were there, but their driving was not something she ever wanted to experience, especially as the twins didn't really subscribe her fan club. Gears would be worse than staying put. She wandered over to Sam, 'Bee and Mikaela who were setting up a Trivial Pursuit game. That ruled 'Bee out too, she wasn't about to take him away from the game and from his friends.

'_Please, please let Bluestreak be somewhere in this base. Please?'_

"Do you three happen to know where Blue Boy is?" She asked the trio.

"He's gone out for a drive; I dunno when he'll be back." 'Bee replied.

'_Damn! Damn, damn, damn, damn, damnfuckit!'_

"Ok, thanks 'Bee. Enjoy the game and no using the internet to cheat!" Caitlyn admonished, 'Bee tried to look affronted, but Sam and Mikaela laughed. 'Bee had tried that particular trick before, so the remark was deserved.

'_And that leaves Prime and Ironhide. And I just know that Prime will have buried himself in paperwork right about now or fallen asleep on it. I do not like my options!'_

And almost like Providence had read her thoughts and decided to let the Irony Gods screw with her Ironhide walked in.

"I'm going out for a patrol, can't stand much more of 'grumpy-aft Gears'." Ironhide stated, and turned to walk out.

'_I am gonna hate myself for this, aren't I?"_

"Ironhide, wait. Do you mind some company?" She called after him.

He paused and looked back at her; and she felt like he was trying bore holes in her skin with his eyes. They had been getting along slightly better lately, mostly by avoiding each other but there was still a wall between them.

'_Must get out of the base, aww, gods – don't make me do this!'_

"Please? I just need to get out for a while, I'll just sit there, promise." She almost pleaded.

"All right." The mech finally grumbled. "Come on." He waved at her to follow.

--

Outside, the glorious, wonderful outside, the sight of tree's and sand and sunlight was a balm on frayed nerves. Ironhide was patrolling a few miles from the base, basically just cruising and Caitlyn was thankful for that. Even though living at the base no longer bothered her as it once did it was still good to sometimes just get out.

She lounged back in her seat, watching the scenery pass by. Neither herself nor Ironhide felt the need to talk, Ironhide didn't even play music as 'Bee usually did but Caitlyn relished the silence. She was to laconic to even think at the moment.

They pulled onto the highway and Caitlyn amused herself by watching the other cars around them.

'_I wonder what they all would think if their cars turned out to be alien robots.'_

The thought was more than a little amusing. She kept watching the cars passing by.

'_Red sedan, white four-by-four, grey hatchback, blue little car, green sports car, black jeep, black jeep, black jeep – Hey what the!'_

The three jeeps that had passed them had moved in front and to each side of Ironhide.

'_Seen.'_

"Umm, 'Hide..."

"I know and there is one behind us too." The Topkick answered grimly.

"Shit!" Caitlyn swore. "What do we do?"

"I cannot contact base, they are jamming the signal. Hold on." Ironhide cautioned.

"Huh? Hold on? Why? What are you doi..."

Ironhide viciously swerved and slammed into the left hand jeep, making a break for the off ramp. The jeep didn't stand a chance against the larger car, and Ironhide was tougher than any Earth car anyway. Caitlyn gripped the hand rests for dear life as they broke the cordon and Ironhide accelerated.

"Ok, that's one out, but we can't let them follow us back to base and we can't get back-up. What're we going to do now?" Caitlyn asked.

"We're gonna do a little bit of off roading" Ironhide said gleefully.

The road had levelled out and Caitlyn stomach sank.

"Oh Gods." She muttered.

Ironhide left the road and roared off through the scrub, throwing dirt and grit at their pursuers. The previously silent radio suddenly blared out.

_**Show me your...Show what I got yeah...When you tell me what you need... So put your money where your mouth is...Woah... **_

'_I'm gonna die...'_

Ironhide raced across the desert, bouncing over the dunes. The following three jeeps could barely keep up. Then Caitlyn heard the familiar 'bang'.

"They're shooting at us Ironhide!" She yelped.

"Actually I think they're trying to take out my tires" He replied. "I'll soon fix that."

Ironhide began swerving back and forth, making it nearly impossible for the shooters in the jeeps to get a bead on his tires.

"How long can you keep this up?" Caitlyn asked.

"Not long enough." Was the grim reply "When I say so, jump out; don't worry about the door or the seatbelt." Ironhide ordered.

"Huh? Ironhide, are you insane? I..."

"Just DO IT! Now!" Ironhide Roared.

The mech somehow managed to tip the seat; Caitlyn hit the sand and rolled, something in her left shoulder crunched ominously. She stopped to see the transformed truck stand up and point his cannons at the approaching jeeps. Ironhide's cannon whirred and charged up.

'_Oh no, no, no, no, no...'_

The jeeps hit the brakes mere meters from Ironhide, then swerved round and headed back the way they had come. Neither Ironhide nor Caitlyn moved. She finally found her voice.

"That was _way_ too easy."

"I know." Ironhide agreed.

Suddenly the pieces fell together in Caitlyn head, and a horrible realisation dawned.

"Ironhide, do you have your communications back?" She demanded.

"Yes, I will contact Prime..." Ironhide started.

"No! Contact Bluestreak, please don't ask questions, just do it!"

'_Please, anything but this.'_

Ironhide turned back to Caitlyn.

"Bluestreak's communications are not responding." He said hollowly.

--

A/P/N: Why yes, I AM evil. Sorry.

Music is...

_Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is _by Jet


End file.
